What was your first memory?

Welcome to my blog post, which will be a weekly post covering all aspects of storytelling. I have just put the final touches to my website and am now ready to let it go into the ether. Every writer will tell you that the letting go of your work to another person, let alone to the potential world is most daunting. Whatever the amount of reading and re-reading you will continue to find mistakes, which is inevitable with your own work, as you can no longer see wood for the trees. We outsource a professional proof-reader to pick up any mistakes, but like us, no book is ever perfect. I hope my website is helpful and easy to use and I would appreciate your feedback of both the website and the service.

During my decade at the NHS, I wrote a Friday blog for staff, which was a roundup of corporate news from the NHS and then the rest upbeat and fun. My newsletter was full of interesting articles, regular features and competitions including a photography competition and the winner’s photograph would don the front cover in the next edition. So, I would expect a competition or two in the Memories to Memoirs website over the future weeks! As editor of the newsletter, I had almost complete autonomy of the content, and the final nod from the CEO was always forthcoming with little or no change.

My communication abilities were recognised in the form of three awards; I won a national annual report award because it was not as achingly boring as the usual reports, and two staff awards. I always received exemplary feedback from my communications surveys.

With a degree in social science, analysing the way we behave, as an ex-communications professional, understanding my audience, as a writer, observing people and behaviours, and a Reiki Master (practitioner), observing their energy, I hope you think I am a good candidate to publish your book, for I understand people, how they ‘tick’ and how to ‘tease’ out a good story. I didn’t really fit into the corporate world, but my NHS family will vouch for me being a professional and getting the job done with lots of fun along the way.

I’d like to thank John Wilson for sharing his story, being my poster boy, and encouraging me to follow my writing dream, for it is not just my passion, but also my therapy. Writing enables me to escape into a creative bubble, like a meditation, and helping others share their story, would be my honour.

In my first blog post I provide several questions that will help prompt your memories and will certainly set you off reminiscing. One of them being, ‘what was your first memory?’ I have already told you about mine, but to remind you of my memory, to jolt yours, here it is again.

I can picture the scene so vividly: watching my two-year-old self running down the corridor in the bungalow where I was born and tripping headfirst on the floor. I got up, shook myself down and looked around, wondering what had just happened. My brother and sister had pulled a string across the rooms opposite, and now my seven-year-old brother was howling with laughter. My sister, who was only five at the time, has confirmed this story to be accurate, but insists that she did it under duress, maybe, but I do remember her laughing too! My thought simply, ‘Why do these people whom I love, want to hurt me?' It’s a concept that I have pondered over ever since!

I once heard that your first memory is always traumatic, but this apparently is not the case and some of you will remember a happy one. Memories are unusual before the age of two years old, and some memory experts say that anything remembered before this time may be fabricated. I aim to delve into memories more in my next blog, and I would love for you to share your first one in the comments section down below. It would be interesting to find out if anybody else has a traumatic one and test out the statement!

Until next time, bye for now.

Kay x x x