In this week’s episode of the Life Writers Vlog, we head back to the page as we do on the second Thursday of every month!
Grab your favorite writing tool and get ready to explore a prompt that might just lead to personal insight and understanding. It’s called Before and After.
In the Life Writers membership, we’ve been studying Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. The book is an awesome teaching tool because it’s a great story, and each chapter is packed with powerful writing.
The loss of her forty-five-year-old mother fuels Strayed’s journey along the Pacific Crest Trail and is built on rich before-and-after scenes.
Now it’s your turn. Think about moments in your life—a loss, move, job, diagnosis, or anything that changed from what was to something different.
Start with a quick three-minute brainstorm. List those pivotal events in just a few words, and then choose one and write your story.
Share what you wrote in the comments. We’d love to hear about your before-and-after experience.
But whether your after is brighter or your before felt better, remember the only way to do this wrong is not to do it at all.
Until next time, happy writing!
All the “before and afters” coming up for me are traumatic and I’m not ready to write about them yet, but one of these days I’ll have enough distance. Oddly enough, I’ve come closest in my fiction, so I’m attaching a story that I wrote for Deadlines for Writers. Not much before in this, but one version of the after.
Here’s my “before and after” experience
Great remembrance. Transitions are harder for us more “seasoned” people.
Here is my contribution. It will likely become the preface to a transformative travel story.
Dave, I enjoyed your descriptions of your transformations. I believe for men it is a change in status or ego. That is how people relate to you and respect you. Often that is hard for us to understand and come out the other side.
Dave, your transformation was deep and eye opening. I know when Joe retired as Vice Chancellor at Pitt it was a shock to go from that much respect and influence to just another retired guy in the Villages. Change is hard, especially for a “seasoned” retiree as you stated. Good job on your story. Why did you choose your dirt bike for such a long journey.
I wanted to force myself to take the trip at a slow pace, and give myself enough time to think. I could have finished the trip on the touring bike in a day and a half.
Patricia, years ago, I already wrote a story like that. I even called it Before and After.. it describes my journey after a massive craniotomy with less than thirty percent of surviving intact.