by Nancy Casey
How many shoes do you suppose have stepped through your life?
Walking shoes, running shoes, traveling shoes, crying shoes.
Sneakers, slippers, sandals, flip-flops, work boots.
Fashionable and unfashionable shoes. The shoes that hurt your feet and the ones that don’t. Shoes you don’t like. Shoes you covet.
Today, begin with a shoe—or two. Fill a page with story from your life that has at least one shoe in it. It can be a story that reflects true events, or one that comes from your imagination. Or some combination of the two.
You can consider a shoe worn by you, or by anyone. Or even a shoe (or two) that nobody has worn.
You could even write about a brake shoe if that’s the story that pops into your mind.
Maybe you will want to tell the story from the point of view of the shoe.
Begin with a shoe (and possibly its mate) and tell the story. If the story is pretty short and there is still room on the page, tell another story. About that same shoe, or a different one. Or instead of additional stories, you could fill the remainder of the page with drawing.
Drawing or doodling on the page can help your mind relax and think more clearly. You don’t have to write down everything you think of while you were drawing. The drawing itself—no matter what it “looks like”—will stand in for all the thoughts you had while you made it. Regardless of what (or how) you draw, your mind will be a bit clearer for having done it.
When the page is full, look it over slowly. Leave a corner of your mind empty and ask yourself what the title should be. See what kind of title pops into that empty space.
Write your title at the top of the page. Write the date on the page too, along with a signature or your initials.
Here is an example of what someone could write.
You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.
Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. In-person Write-For-You classes could be returning to the Recovery Center before too long—but not yet! If you would like some help with your writing, or just some encouragement, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center.
Latah Recovery Community Center, Inc. 