Vignettes

I've been writing, but I have not been sharing. 

Let me explain.

For a while, I've been trying to discern what direction my writing should take. I feel that there should be a purpose behind my writing, rather than just writing to hear the sound of my voice or simply because I can.  I think good writing has purpose. 

My sister Kati shared the idea of writing short stories about my experiences. For some reason, I had never really thought of it like that before. I prefer writing nonfiction, as I mentioned in my previous post, but other than that, I haven't been sure how to do that. When Kati described it in those words, "short stories about your own experience", it clicked for some reason.

It made me realize that that's what I enjoy reading. I love reading memoirs and biographies and collections of stories about the lives of interesting people. Even average people who look at ordinary things in an interesting way. Especially those that incite laughter. I started Googling again, trying to pinpoint what exactly this kind of writing is called.

Personal essays. 

This felt exciting to me.

I recalled an assignment in my high school composition class. We were supposed to write a "vignette", basically a brief account of something from our lives. The idea was to focus on an experience with a strong emotion.

I wrote about an evening in the dining room of the retirement home I worked at in high school. The teacher liked my story but felt that the emotion behind the story was unclear. She was right.

I have decided to start practicing this kind of writing again. Brief stories and episodes from my life. I've made a list of things I could possibly write about. I've written about two so far.

I don't think they are ready for your eyes yet. One of them is kind of boring, to be honest. I started writing it while we were out of town last week, and I forced myself to finish it simply because I have problems finishing stuff.

The other one...has potential. I think it could be good. But it brings up strong emotions. It could potentially ruffle some feathers.

When it is ready, I will try to be brave and share it. 

I'm excited by this idea. It feels like the kind of writing I'm meant to do.

Now, to spend some time walking down memory lane.