All human beings, across time, have gathered around stories and it is these stories that are remembered and retold and refined and retold some more, eventually being passed down as that thing which defines who we are and what we believe. There are cultural stories, faith stories, political stories, food stories, war stories, travel and discovery stories—there are epic stories of human achievement, heart-breaking stories of personal tragedy and life-changing stories of forgiveness. By far the most influential and powerful stories (think about this) are those that you tell yourself about your worth, your potential, your frailty, your ability and your future.

Welcome to the first Storytelling blog series installment of 2013. Each month I will be sharing storytelling resources that I discovered, and sometimes shared, during my year-long class, Twelve. I want you to discover for yourself, just how important storytelling is to scrapbooking.

This week as I kick off of the blog series I also have something else to announce and share, the release of my newest eBook Storytelling Strategies. (on sale 1/29/2013) Yeah!! In honor of storytelling I will be blogging all week long about my favorite storyteller. 

I’m super excited to introduce you to Donald Davis, master storyteller. I have had the opportunity to sit in a live audience and listen to Donald tell a story—an invigorating experience and I got to attend a storytelling workshop, an experience I’ll not soon forget. I first heard of Donald when I listened to the Everything Creativepodcast, which motivated me to find out more about him. I visited his website and purchased his “What’s Your Story” workshop DVD. I’m still in the midst of learning from this internationally renowned teacher, considered by many to be the father of family tales—but I can’t keep him a secret any longer! Each day this week I will share one thing I have learned from studying Donald Davis and am trying to incorporate into my scrapbook stories.

Don’t Make “Story” Hard

A story is simply what happened – yesterday or ten years ago. Some stories are told once and some are told and retold until they become mature and full of the perspectives of the people that have experience with the story. I think this easily applies to scrapbooking. Some pages are a simple tribute to a beautiful photo or an everyday slice of life that you recognize as good and some pages are more complex in the connections they draw or the relationships, feelings or truths they reveal. The more you’ve thought about, heard or rehearsed a story, the more opportunity it has to grow into its full-bloom version and the more time it will take to scrapbook it. As we curate our stories inside our self, we are granting them time to mature, to take on a more complex or connected nature. Not all stories need to be equal in their development or their design; the important thing is that you are committed to discovering and documenting the stories of your life.

Learn more about Donald Davis

Tales From a Free-Range Childhood
Donald’s most recent book and collection of stories.

Telling Your Own Stories
Donald’s book written and designed to guide you in discovering and recording or writing your own stories.

Donald’s Website
This is where you can read Donald’s bio and get a sense of his very active participation in the world of storytelling.