Lesson: Responding to Life
Acknowledge Change
In this lesson, you’ll observe and respond to your own experience, focusing on how your life has changed over time.
Why Personal Storytelling Matters
“I hope that you will take up this habit too of noticing when things are really awfully nice and say, ‘if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'”
— Kurt Vonnegut[1]
RESPONDING TO LIFE
At a Glance
Introduction – read first
Lesson Steps — do them in order
- Dream First: Pop Touchstones
- Write Fast: Change Story
- Vision Share: Freeze Time
- Think Again: Your Tone?
Stretch Activities
Main Tools
- Self-awareness
- An Eye for Details
- Active Response
- Questioning
Main Takeaways
- Explore who you are and how you view the world.
- Express yourself more effectively and authentically.
- Discover your creative flow for generating new work.
- Document your journey as a writer.
- Extend your stories beyond words with multimedia.
- Make meaning of a messy world through writing.
Self-Evaluation – finish here
- From a closing anecdote in many of Kurt Vonnegut lectures: what his Uncle Alex "found objectionable about so many human beings is that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy." His uncle would tell everyone to stop for a moment, saying, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." See "Kurt Vonnegut Lecture," Case Western Reserve University, February 4, 2004. ↵