Challenge Yourself To Pay Attention to Stories
31-Day Ninja Writer Challenge 2019: Day Nine
If you ask anyone who’s known me for more than, oh, twenty-four hours, they’d probably tell you that books are my favorite thing.
The truth is though, that’s not precisely right.
I do love books, don’t get me wrong. But the thing I love the most is a story.
I love to read a good story. Or watch it. Or listen to it.
I’m drawn to a story like a bee to a flower.
For the rest of this month, we’re going to keep a little log of the stories we take in.
Nothing too elaborate. Just get your hands on a notebook and start to record the date, the title, a little about who wrote it or made it or told it to you. Maybe a line or two about how it effected you or what you took from it. Something you loved. Something you didn’t. Something that stood out. A favorite quote.
I almost added ‘and a star rating’ here, but changed my mind. This isn’t about judging stories. It’s about paying attention to them.
Something similar to a Story Journal is sometimes called a Commonplace Book.
“You may want to keep a commonplace book which is a notebook where you can copy parts of books you think are in code, or take notes on a series of events you may have observed that are suspicious, unfortunate, or very dull. Keep your commonplace book in a safe place, such as underneath your bed, or at a nearby dairy.” — Lemony Snickett
I’m going to use one of these notebooks for my Story Journal. Fitting, right? I love that the covers are made from vintage paperback books.I like the idea of having an ongoing record of stories that I love. Like a separate Every Day Notebook — just for stories.
ASSIGNMENT NINE:
You can do this in your challenge notebook. Or get yourself a dedicated Story Journal Notebook, if you think it’s something that might take root.
Start keeping a journal or log of the stories you take in: books, short stories, movies. Even a great conversation or a spectacular blog post. Any time someone tells you a story, in whatever form, and it moves you — write it down. Don’t worry about writing a lot or being perfect. This is just a log that you can turn to when you need to goose your muse a little.
Share a picture with us on Facebook.
Don’t forget to read and write for 10 minutes each today.
You can check out all the other posts in this challenge below.
Want the rest of the challenge posts in your email inbox?
Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the original Ninja Writer.