How
Was Footprints Born?
“I
grew-up on the shores of Lake Michigan where I left many of my footprints
in the snow and the sand. Now living on the Gulf of Mexico, I am leaving
my footprints in the snow white sand. As I progressed with my writing, I
began to realize that our memories are really footprints –footprints in
our minds.” ~
“It all began
because my mother wrote a story about her life. I didn’t know about this
story until after she was gone, and then it was too late to ask
questions. Much of what she wrote I already knew. But, I wanted to know
more and she had barely scratched the surface.
I decided I
needed to start writing my own story, and right away, so I didn’t forget
things. I wanted to do more than “barely scratch the surface”. I wanted
my children, and my grandchildren, to know who I was, what my life was
about, and what it was like growing up when I did.
I began to
research how to go about writing such a thing and found several resources.
The more I read, the more I realized that I wanted to not only write my
story, but I wanted to encourage others to do the same thing. I came
across a work shop for “older women” that helped encourage them to write.
But, that didn’t satisfy my needs. Much to my surprise since I tend to
support women’s issues, I found I didn’t want to encourage just women to
write their stories, I wanted to encourage everyone to write.
In fact, I
wanted to encourage all women to do this. I began to research how to go
about writing such a thing and found several resources. I came across a
work shop for “older women” that helped encourage them to write. But,
that didn’t satisfy my needs. I didn’t want to reach just “older women”,
I wanted to reach all women. And, much to my surprise (since I tend to
support women’s issues) I wanted to reach men, as well.
The idea of a
writing guide was set into motion. I saw it as a way to get to know
myself as I started remembering things and writing about my life; it gave
me a medium to examine hurts and help heal them, or at least come to grips
with them which proved to be very therapeutic; and it gave me a chance to
put my history – my story – my memoirs – down in writing.
And, so the
idea of a writing guide was set into motion. I see it as a way to
encourage myself and others to get to know ourselves by remembering and
writing about our lives; it is a medium to examine hurts and help heal
them, or at least come to grips with them which proves to be very
therapeutic; and it gives us a chance to put our history – our story – our
memoirs – down in writing.
And so,
FOOTPRINTS
was
born.”
~ Sue Wagstaff ~
Who is
Footprints?
Sue Wagstaff is the founder and author of
FOOTPRINTS.
She
has a degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at
Dallas with thirty years in the mortgage industry and ten years in
technical customer support. She is a member of American Business Women’s
Association, First United Methodist Church of McKinney, United Methodist Women,
Association of Personal Historians, and Story Circle. She is a
retired working woman, a wife, a mother, a grandmother
and a writer. She and her husband Don live in McKinney, Texas.
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