Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’

Running out of Story Ideas Harvest your Family Tree

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

I’ve sat and watched the cursor blink on the clean white page for a week. What shall I write about? Yes, my daughters, even newsletter editors lack inspiration at times.

Having no direction, my mind wandered toward the family. Natural, eh? I killed time by skimming my genealogy page and whamo, the proverbial ton of bricks fell. Of course! With real people and events you can write about anything.

I picked up a few lines here and there and my goodness! I found a writer’s jackpot, and you all have one. It sits neatly among the limbs of your own Family Tree. Have you discovered it yet? Just think of the many genres and topics a good writer could pick up.

  • I found a Tudor diplomat, who worked along with Cardinal Woolsey and Erasmus. Richard was an official in the Church. He helped write the Kings James version of the Bible, working primarily on the Book of Psalms.

  • And, John the Jester – Brother of Richard

    Although a scholar of King’s College, Cambridge, in 1539, and being a Master of the Arts, he was soon attached as the Jester in the household of the Duke of Norfolk before Henry VIII’s death, and in Elizabeth’s reign, he was transferred to the court.

    That a man of education like Pace should have voluntarily assumed ‘the fool’s coat’ often excited hostile comment. To such criticism Pace’s friend, John Heywood, the epigrammatist, once answered that “It is better for the common weal for wise men to ‘go in fools’ coats’ than for fools to ‘go in wise men’s gowns’”
    Camden, Remaines,ed.857 p314

  • Another Richard founded Paces’s Paines across the river from Jamestown

  • It took 112 years to get Priscilla’s hollyhock seed from Georgia to Oklahoma, according to John W. Allen, curator of history of Southern Illinois University Museum.

    I found stories of Priscilla, a young girl of ten or eleven, who gathered the seeds of the hollyhock plant to take with her from Georgia (some versions say North Carolina) to her destination in Oklahoma during the tragic Trail of Tears era of 1838-39.

    She was befriended and adopted by my husbands ancestor during a rest camp on Dutch Creek, in Illinois. Today, Priscilla Hollyhocks are known by their unusual red color and small size and cover the hills of certain areas.

  • What could be done with a story of a hanging that failed during a civil war raid? A relative was among those hauling supplies for Col. Mulligan at Lexington. He was alone that day and he wouldn’t talk, so the raiders hung him and left. The knot slipped, he fell to the ground and wormed his way up to a house where the rope was cut by a woman.

  • Way back in history I roamed and found reference to a family named Rolfe and Pocahontas.

  • The John Wayne movie, Rooster Cogburn, carries my mother’s family names and was set in Arkansas, her birthplace. I have an old picture in my album of a man with the name ‘Rooster Cogburn’ written across it. It isn’t old enough to be the original, but he carries the nick-name forward. The only claim I have to this reference, are the names. They all match and it’s fun.

    • I believe we each have so much history bound up in our family trees, we should never run out of ideas or inspiration. I’m lucky to have a genealogist brother to do all the searching and verifying, it’s more work than I could handle. http://www.rootsweb.com/ Thanks, Lee.

    Go directly to the Message Boards and type in your family name. It’s free and it’s fun to read others looking for the same information – your family. This is not a site to do research unless you want to pay. If you do, it’s very good – one of the best. If you don’t have time to do a thorough search, just visit and search your family names. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, and you may decide to work on your own history.

    Write your fictional story on true events but don’t worry about keeping them factual. That’s why you call it good fiction.

    Harriet is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
    which is a site for Poetry. Her portfolio can be
    found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/storytime

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    Five Easy Ways To Bring Family Time Into Your Day; Balancing Work And Family Stresses

    Monday, December 22nd, 2008

    The pace of life seems to quicken every year. More and more time is spent rushing from job to after school activities or evening meetings. It’s easy to get over whelmed and to loose a sense of family and relaxation in our homes. Here are a few ideas to help strengthen your family and to keep some of life’s pressures and stresses out of the home.

    ~ Be involved but learn how to say No, once in a while. You want to be an involved informed parent but you need to keep your schedule sane. So don’t volunteer for everything and don’t sign your kids up for every after school sport or activity. Set limits on these activities, car pool whenever possible, and limit the activities you volunteer for and your children participate in to two for each half of the school year.

    ~ Week long family vacations are great but sometimes you need a family break more often. Plan mini retreats that give you a break from your routine and allow down time where you can just hang out. See if a local hotel with a swimming pool has off-season rates. Then get together with one or two other families whose company you enjoy and book a night in the hotel. Bring swimsuits for the kids and a good book for yourself. You can also turn off the TV, telephone, computer, and CD player for the night, cook an easy meal or order take out and tell stories or play cards or a board game. Teenagers may think its hokey at first but they really do appreciate the change of pace and the time with their family.

    ~ Eat dinner at the table not in front of the TV or standing in the kitchen grabbing a quick bite just before rushing out to the next activity. Consciously eating your meals not only improves digestion but also allows you thirty minutes to slow down and reconnect; sharing things that happened during the day. Make it mandatory and after a few weeks you will see how everyone really looks forward to this short peace of family time each night.

    ~ Develop family traditions with your immediate and extended family members. Come up with a special night once or twice a year that isn’t tied to a holiday. Have everyone who comes make something to eat, even the littlest ones. Share what you have been doing since the last get together and come up with some fun game everyone can get involved in. Horse shoes, softball, badminton, the game isn’t important it’s the time you spend together just goofing around without judgment and the pressures of the regular schedule of life.

    ~ Keep expectations of achievement in school at a reasonable level; encourage your children to strive for things and work at a level that always gives them a bit of a challenge, but don’t push them into situations that are too different or may regularly affect their self esteem.

    About The Author

    ©BZ Riger-Hull – www.in-spiros.com

    For valuable free articles, assessments, & practical success toolsmailto:A1@smartautoresponder.com Certified as a Success Coach, “Four Agreements” Facilitator, & Tele-Course leader We help you communicate powerfully, reduce stress, Strategically Attract success, & increase your financial well-being.

    bz@in-spiros.com

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