In the late autumn of 1988, as Mainers were beginning to hunker down for another winter, I had an experience that confirmed the power of telling our stories to an audience.

One afternoon, I opened a door to a meeting of Foster Grandparents volunteers. I was walking into my future. But, I didn’t know that at the time.

Having just published my first collection of short stories, What Became of Them, I was asked to create an afternoon program of readings from it for this meeting of Foster Grandparents volunteers.

My collection clearly made use of autobiography—an approach to fiction that had always most compelled me. After my short program, as had become my custom, I asked my audience to share their analogous stories with me. An astounding—but, as I have found over and over again since then— and completely natural response occurred. In what was to be a feast of stories, my listeners began to tell me theirs. These Foster Grandparents spoke with eagerness—as if their speech were, at last, satisfying a hunger.

The need of people to access the power of telling their stories is one I have experienced repeatedly. Since that afternoon in 1988, I have come to realize that there is an added component to the need to tell stories: people need to tell their stories to an audience. Sometimes that audience is one’s own family; but, for many writers, the need for audience is much larger—as large as a community, a region, or a whole group of people in this country.

Reach out

Respect this need which you too have to tell your stories to an audience.

Whether you are writing autobiography or memoir (close cousins), even if all you have is “work in progress,” I urge you to share it with an audience. No matter where you are in the writing experience, it will be stimulating to engage in a story-share program.

This can have several benefits:

• It can confirm that your writing is on the right track to appeal to an audience.
• It can provide you with insights and new material to include in your story.
• It can create community.

Action Steps to Access the Power of Telling Our Stories

1. Select some writing that you know is ready to share.

2. Find a venue to share that story. A meeting of some sort that welcomes a program is an excellent choice. Think of my Foster Grandparents’ meeting as an example.

3. Take the steps necessary to set up a presentation.