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In her book, Pen on Fire, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett writes, “The more difficult your childhood, the more misunderstood you were, the more likely it is that you will become a writer.”

Your personal stories and anecdotes can be used for humor, healing, help and hope. I use personal stories mostly in my community interest column. I find that if I can help the reader relate to me on one level or another, I maintain their interest and build my readership. This helps to sell newspapers and keep me employed. So it’s a win-win.

Reel in your reader

At a writers' conference last year, James said, “The key is to never let yourself be the hero.” Better common ground between you and your reader? Stories that show when you were the mistake-maker, the mess-maker, and the one who fouled out.

Some of my most widely-read columns have been when I turned the mirror and laughed at myself. Yes, a mother of adult-aged children, I thought it was a perfectly bright idea to try ice-skating without any lessons or padding. Hmm. Yes, I went to interview a Latino man thinking the eight years of Spanish I had taken in elementary and high school would automatically reemerge in my brain. Yes, I cut my finger while peeling potatoes, and managed to squeak out, “I… stabbed…bleeding…” on the cell phone to my husband, who was in another country at the time, before passing out. (Tip to self: Add neighbor’s phone number to speed dial.)

Readers got a good laugh and passed the column around to friends and family. Weeks after an article appears, strangers will stop me on the street, recognizing my face from the paper, to say how much they enjoyed reading the column and how it triggered a memory to a similar story in their own lives.

Story starters

► Learning humility….you thought you knew what you were doing, but failed…

► Risk taking…you stepped out on a limb, and it broke

► Lessons learned…ever pay a high price for wisdom?

► Letting go…discuss the difficulties of losing a friend or relative

► Decision time…write about a time when you had no place to turn

► Messing up…take your mess and find the message

As a writer, you can masterfully mix internal and external struggles to draw out drama in your story. Be sure to keep all the sorrow and tears, mixed feelings, and fears imbedded in the story. Your authenticity will open readers’ hearts and minds to what you write.

Draw from the deep well of your own experience for stories that can be used to lead the reader to your conclusion.

In the case of my above mentioned stories, more folks took to the frozen pond near my house this year, several of them bringing helmets and wrist-guards, a continued education course in Spanish is booked solid at the local community center, and I no longer peel potatoes—I am not allowed. Happy story writing!