Little Images

I have been deliberating recently about the content and delivery of my next speech to be presented at the Toastmasters meeting in a couple of weeks. The point of the speech is to inform or inspire enough that your audience will take action. I have been debating about trying to inspire my audience to write either a journal, a blog, or just keeping a notebook of their inner thoughts and feelings, as a tool for personal therapy or relaxation. Remember, my counselor even said this was great therapy.
I am interested in this as I have been writing my blog this year, such a pivotal year, and have felt release of many emotions in doing so. I do not want to share with the club however, that I actually have a blog. I will refer to my postings, simply as entries. I have decided to pull some excerpts from some of the postings, (entries) as a way to tell my story this year. I will try to have some chronological order and end my speech in stating, "writing has been a release and personal therapy. I encourage you all to do this"...etc...Of course, I will leave out most details as I only have 7 minutes to present. Of course, I will refrain from sharing my dark feelings about the x. I have reread my postings and there are some favorite writings I will incorporate into my speech, or pieces of them.
This is where my biggest challenge lies: a catchy opening, brief excerpts in chronological order, completes a story and inspires my audience. (sigh here).
My blogger friends are more than welcome to give advice if you feel the inclination.

P.S. Since I am not QUITE finished grieving my ended marriage, I peeked again recently at the x's and the new lady's social networking sites, and discovered with some dates and time lines, he was actually camped out in her little town 3 weeks after the divorce was final, and that is where he's been ever since. She had posted four pictures of them with their arms around each other and a cute shot of them "cheek to cheek" exactly a month after the divorce. (frown here) This tells me a lot. (He likely had a relationship building prior to the divorce as I know how he is with women and how he validates a relationship before taking such a step.) After the encounter at the local festival though, and a couple of nasty emails sent and voice mails left for his review, she changed them and removed the one where they were cheek to cheek. At least that. He actually has some bookings in CA and AZ in November and December. He intends to camp at Sequoia, CA to start and will be gone until Christmas or thereafter. His schedule is far from full, about 4 per month is all I noticed. My friend said, "at least you can feel more comfortable hanging around some functions with your old friends and not worry about running into him and her." I suppose that is true.

Comments

kden said…
No advice from me, I couldn't stand up and talk in front of people to save my life. I like your topic though and using a few examples of your entries is a good idea. Good luck to you!
Grumpy said…
Open with a brief outline of some of your trials and tribulations of the past year. Engenders empathy and gets the audience on your side. Follow with brief examples from your "journal" and explain how writing helped you to understand your situation. Draw them into action by explaining how they could apply the same method to their lives and how it could help them see things more clearly.

Then again, what do I know?
Claire M. King said…
Great advice grumpy. I like your idea of outlining some of 2010 happenings for me as an opening. Then pick a few prominent entries etc...Thanks!

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