"Your past is your story up to now. The future is the story yet to come. The present is where you live with that experience, your hopes and your dreams."

Opening Remarks: Oscar Host from the Land of Enchantment

This will be his first time hosting the Oscars. There has been a lot of coverage about this where I live, in New Mexico, as Neil Patrick Harris was born and raised in this state we call the Land of Enchantment.

Our lives are sometimes like a movie, not always as dramatic, although there are people I talk to who are convinced their life story would make a great movie. For Harris, this night will be undoubtedly hold a special place among his life highlights.

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Thanks for reading. – Tom

Featured Article: Here You Go Again

I have a life writing technique suggestion for those of you are doing your own life story writing. Pick a particular time in your life, something that was special and meaningful and sit down and write it as a short story.

Then put it aside.

The next day sit down and write it again. Don't look at the previous version. Write the story fresh.

And then on the third day do it again. Try it for a week straight.

With each new version you craft you get to hone, polish and improve your storytelling. Go ahead and tell yourself, “Here I go again”. Get into it! Consider it a challenge to approach the story from different angles, much like shooting a film scene from various directions.

What might get revealed after writing five, six or seven versions, one per day, can be revealing. You will notice how the story becomes more vivid, deeper, richer and purposeful. At least that's my prediction. The rewriting will be a worthwhile challenge. But, you won't know until you try. It’s analogous to the movie Groundhog's Day. The main character, played by Bill Murray, kept waking up each day, on the same day, Groundhog’s Day, and had to relive it. It became a frustrating loop he was trapped in. But eventually he discovered opportunity in reliving each day. And he began to use the day as a way to improve himself and his relations with others.

Improving your relationship with your own story is important. That can mean spending time on certain portions of your life story, rewriting and trying different approaches. Try it and see how it can help you develop your writing. Revision is good and important and this could be a fun way to do it.

You can read other life story articles here.

Featured Resource: America’s Footprint

America’s Footprint is one of the newer membership websites that enables you to create a digital legacy, a time capsule if you will, of your life story. It stores safely online, with full privacy protection, your writing, pictures, memories and more for you and future generations. There is plenty of helpful guidance, along with a blog full of inspirational stories, so that you can get started on developing your own digital legacy. Get more information here.

Closing Information

Any comments, ideas or feedback is greatly appreciated. Just reply to this ‘zine and tell me what you think!

Until next time, – keep your story alive!

Tom Gilbert