I consider myself a storyteller, first and foremost.
One of my earliest memories is of lying in bed, telling myself what the cowboys on the wallpaper were doing.
A year or so later, my dad took me into the local department store to choose wallpaper for my bedroom in the new house he was building for us. I chose this, because it had letters , and I knew I needed letters to write my stories, and there were toys about which I could make up stories.
Even at aged 3 (yes, 3), I knew I was meant to tell stories.
For me, the story is about which books, movies, and even songs should be. One of my husband’s cousins is into film. He runs a couple of prestigious film festivals. For him, movies are about texture and other visual things. Story isn’t even secondary. What is the point?
One of the reasons I love baseball is because it is rich in the “feminine tradition of oral history, story telling, and gossip.” (Breaking into Baseball by Jean Hastings Ardell) “Baseball loans [sic] itself to story telling.” (Jeff Gellenkirk)
Story pervades every aspect of our lives. From religion to the memes we read on social media, our business plans to our successes (and failures). Story is everywhere.
Today is National Tell a Story Day.
Don’t just tell a story today. Celebrate one.
