Storytelling Sunday 2: The Words, The Pictures

Happy New Year, Storytellers! I'm hoping 2012 will hold a lot of everything you love.

Round here we love stories. We love them so much that we're ready to make a start on a whole new year of Storytelling Sunday. And we hope you are about to join us.

I think they may be about to join us

The other day I was talking to Uncle Dave about my plans for the new season, about how I wanted to get the photographers involved, and the bloggers who enjoy from the sidelines; and he jumped up and down and shouted

"You've got to persuade them! It's so important! And I'd like to help."

And I thought - free Ivy League level storytelling advice? From a real Professor? Let's have some of that! And this is what he wrote:

"From what I’ve heard, some great bloggers would like to join in the fun of Storytelling Sunday but are feeling a little nervous.

Now it may well be that you don’t feel you are a great writer: after all, you haven’t written many novels recently. But that’s alright - people who do that are authors, and Storytelling Sunday isn’t about authors, it’s about storytellers. And everyone is a storyteller.

At the fancy university where I’m lucky enough to teach literature, students come to study great novels written by brilliant people so different from the rest of us. But I don’t let them do that until they tell me what they did yesterday, or how their pet cat is, or what happened at lunchtime. They think it’s too easy and a bit silly until they realise what’s going on: exactly like the famous authors, they’re telling me stories; and in fact they (and we) talk in stories all the time. Almost every time you speak, you tell a little story.

But, what if our stories don’t seem interesting? Well, that’s not our decision to make, because a story doesn’t become a real story until someone hears it or reads it. That’s when the magic part happens. You just can’t tell how the most ordinary little story might speak to someone else and bring memories flooding back, or spark an idea.

All you can do is tell your story. The thing you do every day."

Thanks Dave! Has he got you thinking? I think he's right. All you can do is tell your story. Right here. Right now. Words, if you like to work them. Pictures if you prefer. Write your post, add your link and we'll come and visit. Good Luck! The new season starts here..

Small Print: which I'm not making small because I'd love you to read it. I firmly believe we're telling stories in the round here. One person starts and then turns to the next. You can't do it in isolation. So I'm asking everyone who adds a link to be sure to say hello to at least a couple of the other storytellers. There are some stars out there who managed a lot of hellos last year - your efforts didn't go unnoticed! - but it's up to everyone to become a part of the audience. That's when stories work best. Uncle Dave says so.