The Road to the Good Life: Make: Telling Your Story

July is always an awesome month for me. July means Fourth of July and fireworks. July means a vacation; a vacation that typically doesn't leave my PTO (paid-time off) balance negative.

It also means I'm starting or partway through an eCourse or participating in a workshop. This summer the workshop is Find Your Voice, led by Kristin of Ruskin Papercrafts. And it's one you can participate in as well--for free!

How are you spending your summer?

Find Your Voice is an eight week online workshop that kicked off last Monday. The first week was about gathering our supplies, getting familiar with the format of the class, meeting fellow participants, and beginning a framework for our stories.

If you've been thinking about starting a blog or beginning a journaling practice, Find Your Voice is a great introduction! When the eight weeks are up you'll be more than two-thirds of the way to developing a healthy writing habit (you need 66 days before a practice becomes a habit).

Kickstart Your Storytelling Habit with a Weekly Creative Call to Action

Each week we have a creative call-to-action with three prompts. One of the prompts is crafting based, one is writing based, and one is picture based. For the first week, I initially shied away from the picture-based prompt as it would be less challenging. I instead chose the crafting based prompt: "create a project that represents you at the beginning of your storytelling journey."

I decided to decorate my D-ring binder with quotes or objects that represented significant events in my journey to find my voice. If you've followed the blog for awhile you might recognize some of the objects I chose for the cover of my Find Your Voice workshop binder. Don't worry, if you're new I'm about to explain. I also ended up filling the binder with worksheets and projects from other storytelling eCourses.

Footprints from a sign a friend made for us to hang in the delivery room.
A card from my first Mother's Day.
A piece of packaging from the bouquet cubes got me for my first Mother's Day.
Polka dots from a gift bag that held clothing for Gates.
Cover from the travel journal I created for last summer's Do What You Love for Life eCourse.
A piece of packaging from my Blogging Your Way Workshop mood board.
We Are What We Make button from the Kollabora gift that Alt Summit SLC participants received.
My name tag from the Hello! Social for newbies at Alt Summit SLC.
The banding from the Atly gift box that Alt Summit New York and Alt Summit San Francisco participants received.

With the items I chose it was important to capture significant events that have shaped my journey so far as well as represent hopes and aspirations. As a new mother, finding my voice is primarily about learning to balance sometimes diverging roles. With my binder, I wanted to represent this internal struggle.

Join us This Summer for a Free Storytelling Workshop

If you've been searching for your voice, I highly recommend joining us for the 2015 Find Your Voice Workshop, starting Wednesday July 1st 2015. To get a taste of what to expect, check out some of the projects I completed for the inaugural workshop in 2013:

Week 1: Introduction - I decorated my project binder.
Week 2: Who Are You? - I repurposed a vintage skirt hanger as a mood board.
Week 4: What is Your Storytelling Style - I created a photo memoir box.
Week 5: - I made I AM photo labels.