Christmas is almost here, and being a writer and all, I want to encourage my readers to write their own Christmas story. It can be short. It can be long. It can be prose. It can be poetry. But write it down and then share it with your friends and family.
Forget perfection. Those raw, tattered edges is where the good stuff sits. And don’t keep it to yourself once finished. Ship it, as Seth Godin calls it. Get it out into the world for others to enjoy.
While I don’t have social media, it can be a good place for you to share a story like this — a memory — one that may be individual in nature but touches on a greater collective consciousness.
One of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written is about Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up going to: A Christmas (Eve) to Remember (click to read). I re-read it every year and it puts me right there in the pew midway up at Midway Baptist in Old Well, Virginia. I can see Josh and family in matching red sweaters like it was yesterday.
Consider this me encouraging you. Everyone has a story in them. It can even be a vignette — a scene from Christmas morning, an unexpected twist leading up to the big day, a hilarious dinner with family, and so on. Serious. Funny. It doesn’t matter. Writing this alone has reminded me how our cats used to drink out of the water at the base of our tree then pee on the tree skirt when done. Good times.
Whatever it is, get it down and get it out. ‘Tis the season for storytelling.
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