Oh, the Stories We Can Tell

Many moons ago (in blog time, at least) a reader emailed to say that she could not imagine what stories she could tell because she had lived such an ordinary life. My response was – and still is – that we all have stories to tell even if we have “only” been married, raised kids and tended the backyard garden.

It is in the nature of elders to tell stories. Part of the reason is the urge, in later years, to put order to our lives, create a storyline to make sense of how we have lived. Another reason is to pass on the lore of our families and the times we have lived through because just as some beliefs, customs, practices and even utensils of past generations are a puzzle to us now, so will some of ours be to future generations.

One reason bloggers blog, I suspect, is that we enjoy telling stories. And it is ALL storytelling, you know. From rants to poems to reviews of movies and books, to politics and crafts and cooking and music and tech and introspective turmoil – we are all telling stories every day.

A while back, Norm Jenson of One Good Move introduced me to a secondary blog of his. It is called Anecdotal where Norm tells stories from his life, and he tells them marvelously – little gems of prose that stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. He turned me on to another good storyteller at ftrain.com. And another at oblivio.com.

Here is a sample of Norm’s stories – The Repo Man - a favorite of mine from January.

Since that exchange with Norm, I’ve been mulling over an ElderStoryTellers idea which is beginning to gel now. Here’s what I have:

• It will be called The TGB ElderStoryTellers
• It will be an adjunct to Time Goes By either as a sub-blog or a stand-alone blog linked from all TGB pages
• Only people 50 and older are eligible for publishing
• All stories must be taken from the author’s life or the times he/she has lived through
• Stories are limited to 750 words
• Entries must be well-written and aspire to excellence in storytelling
• The TGB ElderStoryTellers Award will be given for each month’s best story
• An annual award will be given in February each year chosen from the previous 12 winners

None of this is set in stone yet and may be altered or modified before a final decision is made. Here are some other things I need help with and/or need to decide:

• Will I be the sole judge? It is certainly less time consuming than coordinating a bunch of other people.
• Instead, readers could vote on daily stories. The one with the most votes wins at the end of the month
• If monthly/annual winners are selected by reader vote, someone needs to show me how the voting works technically and that it is compatible with Typepad.
• Can voting be arranged so people cannot vote more than once?
• Is this method fair in that stories published early in the month would probably gather more votes over time than stories published later in the month?
• Need to have someone design a monthly winner badge for people to post on their blogs and another badge for the annual award. This should involve the TGB color palette, the words TGB ElderStoryTeller Award, month/year, and probably be no larger than 125x125

Beginning tomorrow, I will be away for several days during which time some excellent guest bloggers will fill in for me on these pages. Please give them all the attention and kind consideration you always give everyone here and if you can spare a few more moments, leave your thoughts, ideas, encouragements, discouragements, help and advice on the ElderStoryTeller proposal.

See you again Tuesday, 20 February - and don't have any wild parties that tear up the place while I'm gone.