As a young girl, I spent most of my summer afternoons lying in a hammock and reading. Nancy Drew’s novels, as well as Marguerite Henry’s Chincoteague Pony series, were my favorites. I was enamored with story, whether reading books or sitting around my grandmother’s kitchen table listening to my great aunts tell tales of their lives. That fascination did not dissolve as I entered my teens.
When I began high school, I told my guidance counselor that I wanted to be a writer. He flatly told me that I’d never be a writer and subsequently designed a business track for me, so that I would be properly trained as a secretary or bookkeeper. It was the most I could hope for, according to him. A decade or so later, I proved him wrong, and I began my writing career by writing personality profiles of artists, writers, and musicians within my community for a local culture and arts tabloid.
Eventually, I penned my own stories in the form of essays, memoirs, and novels. As time passed, other writers enlisted my services to hone their works, and I also became an editor for a number of publishing houses.
In the process of writing and coaching others in the art and craft of writing, I began to understand the power of the story or narrative. My counselor’s view of me was based on a prevailing master narrative–– story––about women’s role in society. In time I realized that by sharing our own stories, wounds from our past could be healed and the life that best fit our own hopes and dreams could be created. Further, by reading or hearing the stories of others, we often engage with the story in such a way that we heal and dream of a better future along with the story’s narrator.
My writing, life coaching, workshops, and motivational presentations, all honor the power of story to influence our lives. In this blog/website, you will hear alot about my journey. I hope that I will get to hear about yours, as well. -- Kathy Sparrow
