There is an entirely different catgory of stories that have long held sway over me: fiction. I have loved fictional stories for as long as I can remember. I am not sure what pulled me in at first, but I have never stopped reading and loving everything from literary fiction to murder mysteries to fantasy. I think stories became an escape for me early on. When I could travel through A Wrinkle in Time or choose my own adventure, then I could be braver, or smarter, or more popular than reality allowed me to be.
My stories became important to me starting in eighth grade. I would go through the stages of wanting to be something else - doctor, medical examiner, actor - but the writing that I started way back in eighth grade was serendipitous for me. When I created stories, people noticed. Friends will tell you that notice is something that I tend to avoid. But when I write, when I make stories, I am thrilled and terrified to share them with others. That has always been the case for me. Writing has been a means of expression, an outlet, and a lifeline for me since that year I started writing satirical short stories. My material has changed since eighth grade, but the need to connect with words has not. I don't even need to connect with other people but instead connect with my own thougths and emotions. My stories are a way for me to exorcise my own demons. Some of the demons have been more persistent than others.
There are certainly other types of stories happening in our lives: work or career stories, relationship stories, personal triumphs and tragedies that unfold entirely in our own minds. I think the hardest part is figuring out which stories need to be shared, for there is power in sharing those narratives with others. Sometimes we can heal ourselves, sometimes we can heal others, with the stories that we share. I have secretly wished for all the world to become writers. I figure if we all wrote our stories, and then shared them with everyone else, at worst we would have a better undertanding of one another. At best, who knows what we might have. I like to think we would have something magical.