My story was about taking my driver’s ed test. But the REAL test was getting myself to do the performance in the first place.
I wrote my story at the last minute, memorized it in one day, and auditioned. I was fully expecting not to get in... in fact part of me didn’t WANT to get in because I couldn’t stand to tell that story again. (Memorizing stories in one day leaves your brain mushy and makes you never want to touch it again.) Well, I did get in, which presented a problem because I was going on vacation to Arizona, and I had no idea when I would be able to practice my story. (Which I had now forgotten due to me not practicing it for a week.) 🤦🏽♀️
I gagged every time I listened to the audio recording I had made of my story. I did NOT want to perform it. So four days before the performance, I did the unthinkable: I wrote a whole new story. Then, I told it to my brother. To my surprise he said, “Read me your other one. The one you auditioned with." So I told him that one too. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID???
“I like the one you auditioned with better.”
🤦🏽♀️ 🤦🏽♀️ 🤦🏽♀️
At first I was really upset. Then I was shocked to realize... I liked my first story better too! Ugh... I had rewritten it all for nothing!!! But then I discovered something. And it changed everything.
I discovered that I wanted to tell my story—the one I had auditioned with. But it had taken writing a whole new story to know it. I learned that the most important ingredient to making a good story is...
YOURSELF.
If you are not into it, it will not be good. But if you are able to invest yourself and your heart in your story, suddenly it becomes wonderful.
A story doesn’t necessarily need to be rewritten to be good—it just needs YOU.
