Little Stories of Your Life: Find Your Voice, Share Your World and Tell Your Story

by Laura Pashby

Embrace the power of storytelling with Little Stories of Your Life. Start telling your own story, find your creative self and be more mindful.

Combining the wellbeing benefits of mindfulness, creativity and daily photography, this book shows you how to use words and photographs to capture precious little moments and how to share these in order to connect with others.

Each chapter explores the different ways you can tell your own stories, considers why you might choose to tell them and helps you to create a patchwork of tiny tales about your life, however small they might be. Throughout the book, Laura shares her own personal stories and research that shows you how to tune out of the bigger picture and focus on the everyday. There are exercises to gently guide you through how to journal and harness your inner creativity, as well as tips on improving your photography, photo challenges and writing prompts to get you started.

It’s easy to feel that our own lives are not enough, but real lives are not defined by bright, exciting we don’t need a grand narrative arc. It’s the stretches of time in between that matter, the tiny moments and the daily choices that make us who we are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Art

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2021

Reviews

[Phaedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might, at first glance, look like a guide to storytelling, but it’s so much more than that. Laura doesn’t just offer advice about preserving your memories in words and pictures, she’s offering a way of looking at the world that will make you appreciate being alive. Because that is the essence of this book: learning how to see magic in the mundane, learning to see poetry in the everyday, and learning to celebrate the power of the little stories of our lives.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice concept. Photos are pretty. Basically a floofy manual on how to capture the stories of your life, in an upscale diary style. My one critic is the book length. I would have perfered getting the wealth of tips and suggestions in half the pages.

[Debbie Aruta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and joy mixed together to form magic!! Magic is sprinkled through in both the words and the photography. This is a book you will read repeatedly. It is like sharing a cuppa tea with your bestie, curling up by a fire and taking a deep breath and listening to your voice, your stories and noticing the mundane in a magical way.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful, life-affirming, joy-affirming read. Laura Pashby’s mantra is the same three line Mary Oliver poem that I love — Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Every author she cited is an author I’ve read. The photos are gorgeous. The text is helpful and inspiring. I’ve been wanting to write and photograph little stories for decades. Thanks to Laura Pashby and her book, I’m finally going to start.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The photography in here is just beautiful! However, this is not quite what I expected... I found it overly wordy. I was hoping for something a bit more activity/challenge based. But she does make some good points.

[Nadine Merschmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch war ganz anders als ich es erwartet hatte und hat daher vieles erläutert, was ich bereits über die letzten Jahre hinweg gelernt hatte. Ich empfehle dieses Buch besonders für Anfänger und für Autor:innen. Trotzdem hat das Buch sehr schöne Bilder und eignet sich gut zum durchblättern.

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura's photography is evocative, as are her words. This is a great book, and so is her Substack.



Just a little tip - buy the paper book. It's not terrific on Kindle.

[Stephanie Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this one that I really liked a lot…and other parts that were only so-so. Lots of beautiful, swoon-worthy photos and a number of different journalling and photography exercises to help guide you in creating and sharing your own everyday stories. I think what I liked most was the emphasis on the ordinary and everyday stories being just as important as the bigger events.
About two-thirds of the way through it started feeling repetitive which resulted in me putting it down and…almost forgetting about it? Sort of like it felt like it should have been done already but the author was rehashing earlier content? Initially I thought it was as long as it is (250ish pages) because of the many lovely photos but then I realized it’s that as well as the repetitive content.
That being said, the beautiful aesthetic of the photos and the inspiring, thoughtful exercises add to the ‘replay value’ (aka re-readability) of this book, which bumps up my rating a touch, from two and a half stars to a three.

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relyn Rating 3.5 stars

Honestly, it's been four months since I started this book. It was a slow slog, which surprised me. I love Laura Pashby's substack so much that I'm a monthly subscriber. I follow her on Instagram, too. It's the Kindle I think. I really recommend reading this one on paper. The Kindle version is not nearly as nice.

[John H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura Pashby gracefully entwines the act of storytelling with a prescription for finding the magic that resides within our every day lives. With a poet’s heart and a scholar’s knowledge, Pashby draws from a vast field of knowledge from poetry to wellness, and everything in between, to deftly create a narrative that is both authentic and unique. This book is more than a methodology of crafting compelling and heartfelt narratives, it is an invitation to alter our way of engaging with the world, creating rich, meaningful memories and moments along the way.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I would write if I wrote a book. Laura has all the elements - great photography, story, story ideas, and great writing. Have and will continue to highly recommend to any creative that loves writing and photography, and telling their story.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book on capturing the beauty of the everyday moment. Laura Pashby fills the pages with her dreamy photography and guides the reader through her process of storytelling. Writing prompts and photography tips abound in this inspiring book. Enjoy it for the contemplative read or as a guide to expand your journaling practice.

[Julie Bergland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book! I felt like it gave me a lot of tools on how to write or photograph the little stories of my life.
The book has a few exercises in each chapter, and they are easy to follow and to try on your own. After reading this book, I felt like I had more courage to actually write/document my little stories, and to actually share them with the world. Would absolutely recommend reading this lovely book!

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have had this book for quite a while, and as I'm on a kick to tame the to be read bookcase , finally sat down to read it. It has beautiful photography and useful advice on taking photos for the 'gram. It also has a few reflective exercises to journal which could be good triggers for deeper exploration. But depth is what I find lacking in this book - it is very superficial and so so irritatingly smug. The author has a lovely life, she is photogenic , the kids are photogenic, the part of the world she lives in all lovely . She makes a living via her creativity. I understand the central message that if you look, you can find the lovely in your life and celebrate it but it is so much easier when you don't have to work in retail for hours a day , or live in a city, or have snotty nosed ill children to look after . Don't get me wrong I'm not claiming I have a realer- warts and all- life. I don't have children , my job pays enough so I get by, I can if I want wander through my days enjoying the fall of dappled light. I am conscious of all the unwarranted good luck in my life and I hope I do not mistake this for a lifestyle choice , or a virtue I have . This book is death by artisan bread - yes its lovely that you nurtured that sourdough for five years and went to the Andes to learn how to make a decent loaf , lovely and you can totally charge a tenner for it , but it is not a signal that you/your life is a state of grace and something that everyone should emulate. And it makes a terrible bacon sandwich.

[Kate MacRitchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle, inspiring handbook to finding magic in the everyday and igniting (or reigniting) one's creative spark.

The book reminded me of a gentler Artist's Way and is peppered with writing and photography exercises designed to awaken your artistic curiosity.

I read it through once and intend to reread so I can complete each exercise.

What I appreciated about this book is that while Laura Pashby has a successful Instagram (@circleofpines), Little Stories of Your Life isn't about creating for Instagram specifically. It's about creating for *you* and taking joy in discovering your unique creative interests and perspectives. Whether you choose to share your creativity online is up to you, but the core of the book is about how your life can be transformed from dull and dreary to magic and meaningful by small acts of noticing.

I think this approach is so refreshing in a hustle-based world where every hobby has to be monetised or performance tracked. And how comforting to realise that we already have everything we need to create beautiful, authentic works of art.

[Cheryl Crotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been writing and blogging for a few years now but this book will help me include myself in my stories to remember that I also have a life. So much information and exercises to do. It was written in a manner for easy understanding and each chapter had a purpose. The photos were gorgeous and it also reminded me of the still life photography that I love but haven’t done much of lately. This is a book that I will refer to over and over again. Life’s little stories. I wish my mom had left a book like this for me but I will try to leave my stories for my kids and grandkids. I loved this book.

[Greg Grimsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! As one who has journaled for years and now starting to consider writing my story for my children and grandchildren, this book provides more than its fair share of inspiration and motivation. Some things are things I thought I knew, but having them presented in one place is helpful and the exercises she recommends are quiet helpful in telling stories in both words and photographs.

My wife was eager to read the book, so not long into the new year, I will re-read, work through the suggestions offered, and begin the process of crafting my own little stories.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really lovely book. I’m a photographer and though I have a creative eye, sometimes I struggle to when it comes creative writing. However, after reading “Little Stories of Your Life”, I feel a lot more comfortable and confident in regaling my little moments.

[Shannen]

Disclaimer: I don't rate non-fiction books.

I picked up Little Stories of Your Life on a whim at my local library. It was part of an autumnal reading display and it drew my eye. I went into it not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's a patchwork of things that I'm interested in including This book is an slow living, mindfulness creativity, connection to nature and enjoyment of life. It's a deeply personal book where the author Laura Pashby shares her own experience of finding her creative voice and creative practice and how this has enabled her to find joy and a deeper connection to herself, others and the world around her.

Through a series of personal reflections, photography, activities and passages of writing, this book serves as a guide to finding your own creative voice. Pashby explains how she began writing little stories, snippets of moments throughout her life, and how this unleashed a new found appreciation for life. Little stories are about finding the beauty in the mundane every day things from a cup of coffee to the sunlight coming in through the window. There's a lot of focus on creating your own little stories and the importance of narratives in general.

Pashby's love for words and stories seeps off the page and as someone that also loves writing and stories, I connected a lot to this. Pashby's other love is photography and she discusses this in depth, inviting the reader to experiment with photography as a form of expression and sharing some of her own photographs throughout. Whilst writing and photography are Pashby's personal creative pursuits, she does encourage the reader to seek their own and a lot of the prompts and activities in the book are focused on reflecting on our own creative voices, practices and outlets. As someone that has always longed to be more creative but found many roadblocks, I found these activities really helpful in making me reflect on why I have always talked myself out of trying or pursuing various creative practices and to be more open minded.

Whilst I loved the content of the book, I do think it would've benefitted from less text and more focus on pictures. Due to the length and the large blocks of text, parts of it did become repetitive and the same ideas were rehashed on numerous occasions. I would've also appreciated more activities as I found these valuable for reflection.

This small criticism aside, I found this book a joy to read. It inspired me and made me reflect in a way few books do. There's a lot of valuable information about pursuing creativity and developing a deeper appreciation for every day life. This book definitely won't be for everyone due to how niche it is and Pashby's philosophies on life. Anyone that doesn't have a similar approach to life (a focus on slow, intentional living that prioritises creative practice, connection to nature and appreciating the small things) would be unlikely to connect to the book in the same way as I did. Nonetheless, I think it offers valuable insight into living a more meaningful life and particularly through the development and practice of creative activities.

[Cindy Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who loves journaling, this book was a delight to read. The chapters follow the flow of some words from a famous Mary Oliver poem "Pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it". Each of those three sections have three chapters devoted to different topics - my favorite was about Finding Your Creative Voice (I underlined lots of nuggets in that chapter). I love the author's approach to storytelling - take a photograph and then tell a small story about it which has heart and resonance. In addition to the helpful advice offered, the book is filled with beautiful photographs and journal prompts to help you reflect upon + practice the ideas being proposed. I am so happy that I stumbled upon this book in a reading vlog on YouTube (about great books for people who love to journal). This one I will continue to dip in and out of over time.

[Claudia Alzraa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth be told, I couldn't put it down. It was difficult to make room for other books in my pile because I was so immersed in this one. The book absolutely transformed my life and creative spirit. It has validated me as a writer and as a storyteller. It has awakened me to seeing the magic in the seemingly mundane. There is not a single aspect of this book that requires criticism. It shoots beyond five stars. If you are a creative soul who only reads one book this year - and want to feel invigorated in what you share with the world - this is the one to read. Pashby has changed my daily practice and appreciation for my own voice. I was in a creativity rut and I found my Spirit again, thanks to this book.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful book if you want to start journaling with prompts and exercises for both writing and photography: you will learn how to reflect on what makes daily life special. If you're looking for a guide on how to get into the discipline of daily journaling, this is not the book for you, however this is a great introduction to just get started with it and learn that you don't need to be a writer to start documenting your life.

I would say this book has some focus around how to apply what you've learned towards social media (to build a personal brand or serve your small business).
The beautiful pictures throughout the book are definitely a plus to spark ideas and inspire creativity.

[Diane Schuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was different from what I expected though it's a beautiful book with some lovely thoughts on journal keeping and memory keeping.

Lovely photos throughout as well, with the important emphasis on appreciating and noticing the magic in the everyday of our lives. Although she does provide interesting prompts as an exercise to get going, I felt some of those could have benefitted from specific examples -- especially for those who are not yet experienced journal-writers.

I recommend this book especially for beginners or those just coming to journal writing or perhaps also to help beginners in starting to write a blog.

[Anna Maria Boland · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Little Stories of Your Life, Laura Pashby guides us gently through different ways of telling stories, using pictures and/or words.

While reading I had a feeling that a friend was quietly telling me what she’s learned and how she does it.

For me this book was a reminder of who I am. And even though I already knew most of the things Laura’s talking about, it was a pleasure to read it.

It’s such a calm read, but it made me rush back to my desk to write as well as wanting to pick up my camera again.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sound advice for any creative looking to document daily life through story and image. Much of this is accomplished by learning to see, and in the observation of what may seem mundane, the true story. This book encourages and breaks the process down, which I found to reduce any intimidation one may feel at starting such an endeavor.

Laura’s sensibly as a genuine storyteller shines, as does her passion for creating images which speak volumes. Highly recommend this lovely, keepsake quality book.

[Kuleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after stumbling upon Laura's Substack newsletter. It's the perfect book for anyone who has an interest in writing- whether that be for a newsletter, blog, social media, memoir, or just a personal journal. I enjoyed Laura's perspective on seeing beauty in the mundane and the ways we can use photography to help tell our personal stories. I've bookmarked several of the journaling exercises to reference later.

[Adrianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book full of lovely pictures, nostalgic stories and great prompts to spark creativity. I recommend taking your time with it as you read, reflect and engage with the tasks in your journal (whatever it may be). I felt very inspired to document the tiniest details of my everyday which is what the purpose of this book is.

[Hilary Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book. It’s one for dipping in rather than sitting down to read in one go. Full of beautiful photos and tips for both writing and photography; both things I have been doing for years. More about reminding me to do things rather than teaching me. Definitely my new favourite book especially when I sit down with a cup of coffee and only a few minutes to spare.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

not quite what I was looking for

I liked the book but could have done without all the “exercises” in each chapter. I skipped over them, but felt they detracted from the read a bit. Over all good book for ideas on writing your own story.

[Judith Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a slow stroll on an Autumnal day. Lots of lovely photographs, references to poems and ideas for storytelling. At the end of the book, you don't really remember lots of specific things but you know you have enjoyed it and it has provided a warm glow around you.