This month, Michelle Gant, Editor of Engaging Stories, is encouraging us to contribute to an online diary on June 21st, the longest day
“…stories bring us together to find common ground, to find our way through life together…” Dorothea Benton Frank
21st June has always been one of my favourite days. Summer solstice. Midsummer. Halfway (pretty much) through the year. A marker in the sand. The annual equivalent of a ‘hump day’. The winter long forgotten, the hopeful spring just passed, and now the promise of sunshine and down time just ahead, before the seasons evolve once more.
I love 21st June. But it is also a date that leaves me melancholy. Because I know that if this is the longest day then what goes up must also come down. And so the gradual lessening of light begins from here (and as someone who is described as ‘solar-powered’ I feel that!)
So, this is the date – which this year is also Father’s Day – that I think provides a great touchpoint to come together and share a day in our lives in our online diary A Life in A Day.
The whole reason why I started the project was to bring people together and show our fabulous differences and our wonderful similarities, and I would love it if as many of us as possible – whoever we are, wherever we are, adult, child (or pet!) could share a peek into our lives on that day. And in doing so, maybe find connection.
As always, you can write as much or as little as you want. In whatever style you want. And then it will be added to our lovely online journal where you can step into other people’s worlds.
And this is for everyone. Whoever you are, however old you are, wherever you live in the world.
Can you share some words on 21st June?
Where to start?
I know that a blank page can feel mildly scary. Empty of words, the thoughts not yet making it to the end of your pen or your keyboard.
But a blank page is a gift. A space where magic can happen. Where your ideas can come to life, where you can give voice to the things in your head, where you can live your day once again, revisit the experiences, feel the emotions once more, and take notice of all the bits you might have missed in the living.
But of course, where to start?
The main thing? Just write. Don’t judge yourself or edit yourself or grammar police yourself.
Just write. Let it all flow. You can always go back and cut and edit and trim and spell check.
Write about what happened. Write about how you felt. Write about what you did next.
Write till you run out of words.
And if you can’t quite find the words then add in pictures too. Let them help you tell the story of your day.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be real.
It’s just putting one word in front of another and soon you’ll see how far that can take you….
Get in touch: A Life in A Day – Connecting us together, one day at a time or email me: engagingstories@yahoo.com. Or drop me a message via our Facebook and LinkedIn pages.
Featured image of Michelle Gant – supplied
Leave a Reply