Let me see . . . what should I write about? The destruction of the Kennedy Center for the Arts? Too sad. The blatant violation of the First Amendment by the current Administration? Too mad. My love of Gummy Bears? Sooo glad!

I landed on this topic while contemplating how a writer begins a story — any story. Then I remembered a day 13 years ago when a First Grade class I was tutoring in storytelling wanted to tell the story of their class mascot — a giant Gummy Bear they called “GB”. To get them started, I suggested that we make a list of questions to ask GB, and then each of them could write a story imagining how GB would respond to the questions.

Here’s one GB origin story:

One day when GB was a lollipop, a little girl fell out of the sky and he was scared of the little girl. He thought she was going to eat him so he was crying for help and then he ran faster than the girl and said, I do not have to come here no more.

GB as hero:

GB was a giant so he helped the tiny GBs out of their bag. They were so happy that they got out they didn’t eat the people so the town was saved.

The writer as hero:

Truth be told, to get these kids into storytelling, I used a technique I often use . . . asking different parts of myself different questions. Many times I have even interviewed myself. In upcoming posts, I’ll provide examples of how I came out of my box or bag, and, actually, how I’m still emerging.