About

Carol Harrison B.Ed. is a storyteller, speaker, writer, teacher,and facilitator who loves to share from her heart one on one or with any size of group.

You can reach Carol via:
email: carol@carolscorer.ca
phone: 306 230 5808

twitter: @CarolHarrison6

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Inspiration

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Inspiration for writing, telling stories, preserving family memories or anecdotes for speaking can come from unexpected sources. It may be something we hear or see, questions we are asked or things we read. A few years ago I picked up this book, The Story Jar by Robin Lee Hatcher and Deborah Bedford published by Hendrickson Publishers c.2011. The title intrigued me. In this post I want to share a bit from the Story behind The Story Jar written by Robin Lee Hatcher for this I believe may give all of us some inspiration for storytelling and preserving family stories.

Robin writes that she received a story jar as a thank you gift after a speaking engagement. This small Mason jar had been fancied up with a pretty handkerchief covering the lid. The jar had been filled with many odds and ends. In her case it contained a Gerber baby spoon, an earring, an empty thread spindle, a colorful pen, several buttons and more.

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is the significance of an old jar, fancied up with cloth and full of odds and ends? She goes on to say that the idea is to start a writer’s imagination playing, helping them to wonder who owned the items, what was the person like and what significance did that object have for them? To me this idea sounded interesting.

I don’t think you need to be a writer or a professional storyteller to want a story jar. I agree with Robin’s assessment in this area. It could be a way to preserve small family memorabilia. In this case an entire story was written which has a story jar in it.

At a one day writers’ conference I helped plan, we took this idea and filled a jar with odds and ends and placed it in the middle of the table. It became not only a decoration but part of a writing exercise where attendee’s could let their imaginations run wild for a few minutes and come up with a paragraph about one of the items in the jar that caught their attention. I believe it works best if someone else fills the jar. That way you have no preconceived ideas or memories of any item.

As a writer and storyteller I am always looking for inspiration, something that catches my attention and makes me remember something from my own life or forces me to ask questions and play a game of “what-if”. The story jar idea likely resonates with the pak rat part of my personality where I like to keep little things others might throw away. They need a home. Why not an old jar, a pretty box or other container.

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What would you throw into a story jar to give someone else? Have you ever received a story jar? I hope this sparks your imagination and gives you an opportunity to think of places you get inspiration.

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