STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat ??“ Sharon Bryant

Nov 12, 2005? 

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Telling Story

Sharon Bryant

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? First of all, I would like to say thank you to all who voted.? 

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Someone asked me the other day, what inspires a writer to write.?  I said, "For me, it's memories, feelings, and longings, and the desire I've always had since a child to write."

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When I was in college long ago, my professor always told me that when you write, you must grab the reader's attention within the first or second paragraph.?  He said a story can begin at the end, the middle or the beginning.?  I remember things he put me through that I wanted to strangle him.?  Like the day he told us in class to write one word down on a piece of paper, fold it and he would pick them up from our tables.?  I can't remember what I wrote that day, but I remember what I received that day.

He took the papers, put them in a box, came to me and told me to reach in (holding the box over my head) and pick out one piece of paper.?  I did.?  He said, "Open it."?  I did.?  It has one word on it, "fuzz."?  I looked at him and he smiled and said, "Now Sharon will spend the next 10 minutes talking about fuzz."?  He looked at me, I was staring at him like he was stark nuts, and he said, "Be ready in two minutes to begin."

I stood in front of that class, thinking of fuzz on sweaters, fuzz on peaches, and naturally, cops we call fuzz.

I remember telling a story, about walking in my fuzzy sweater through a peach grove, when the fuzz caught me and accused me of stealing peaches.

So much for quick speeches.

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All my life, I've felt true stories are the best.?  I've learned so much from listening to others telling of things they had endured in their own lives.?  I think about all the things I've endured and seen and experienced.

Many times when someone writes a story that triggers a memory of something in my own life, it brings back memories of an incident I?  experienced.

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There are some very good writers on Storytime.?  I love the animal stories.?  Being an avid reader most of my life, I like all kinds of stories.?  Stephen King is my favorite author.?  Sometimes I lay in bed at night and think of creatures coming up through my septic tank, getting into the plumbing in the house, coming up through the sink or toilet.......LOL.?  I gave up eating peanut butter sandwiches before bedtime and the thoughts are STILL there.

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I know I write a lot of stories on losing a child.?  And to those who have never lost a child, I am sure the stories may sound sad, but I also know there are several on Storytime who write me that have lost a child.?  Writing about losing Andy helps me on those heart tug days when there is only myself and my keyboard.? 

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I love the animal stories because I am an animal lover.?  I believe animals bring out the real person we are when we bring them into our family and share our love and hearts with them.?  The rooster we call "Red" has become?  a pet to my husband and I.?  Just yesterday I told him, "Who would believe we have a rooster who sits by your arm when you play solitaire on the picnic table outside??  Who would believe he comes when you call him?

Who would believe a rooster even can comprehend what we say".....but you know what......this one can.

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Who doesn't have a heart when you come home from work and those little fur balls you said good bye to that morning when you left, waits for you and greets you with barks and kisses??  Then curls up into a ball and wants to snuggle in your arms when you say, "Children, I'm home."

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Almost all my stories are true.?  That's because I believe in living life and realize how short it can be for some.

I try and cram as much living into one day that I can.?  I try to scatter anything I can to as many as I can.?  For I love people.?  There is nothing more heart touching than to see someone read something with tears in their eyes, for you know, you touched a life.?  There is nothing more rewarding than to get emails and someone tells you something you wrote helped them so much.

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I get those feelings? from many of the stories I read on Storytime.?  Stories about our parents, missing my own mom, praying my dad lives to be one hundred or more, afraid to lose him.?  Stories about different animals and the impact they have on our human lives.?  Stories of past memories when we were children.?  They are all great.

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Keep up the good work, all of you.?  We may not be famous for what we write.?  We may never take a bow on some stage by winning an award.........but.........if we can touch a life with something we write, we are doing what writers should do.

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I'm proud to be a part of Carol's Storytime.

Sharon Bryant

1946 @bellsouth.net

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