But don't be lazy! Summertime (especially here in Phoenix where it's so hot and we NEVER go outside) is the perfect time to work on stories! The storytelling scene usually gets smaller during summer. Summer school is almost over and there are fewer events to attend. Now is the perfect time to stay cool inside and revisit and revive your stories.

The dog-days of summer are a great time for re-crafting old stories. Have you gotten a little rusty, or even dusty with some stories? Time to dust them off; scrub them and polish them to shine anew. When you first told them, they were new to you and your audiences. What will make them new and bright and shiny again? 

Here are a few tips/prompts to try a re-fit for a story that may have lost some of its luster:

• Change the Voice. Tell from a different point of view, or from a different character's point of view. Want to challenge yourself? Try telling the story in "second person" (one specific character speaking to another specific character or group).
   
• Change the setting or the time frame, modernize the story. What would happen if Little Red Riding Hood lived in New York City, and it's 2017?
   
• What connects those three short stories? Can't find the connection? Maybe it's YOU as the teller? How could you bring them together as a string of pearls?
   
• Re-discover what's special about your protagonist. Make this quality the focal point of your story. How does your protagonist feel about having this power/ability? Were they always this way? Did they acquire this quality along their journey? Highlight it and tell us more about it.
   
• What's the point of the story? Are you sure? Delve deeper into the meaning of the story for you. Maybe your initial thoughts and decisions have changed since you first told it. Take a leap of faith.  What if the point were something completely outrageous?

Those are just a few of the possibilities that you might try. Here's one more that's well suited for your summertime re-crafting:

• Take a moment to physically become your protagonist. Stand the way they would stand. Put your body in the shape of what it feels like to BE them. Breathe in the way they would breath. Breath in that quality that they have and can use for good. Then...step outside into the summer heat, and speak as your protagonist.

Did you find something new to use for your story?