How do you sum up your core identity?

Can tag lines apply to life as well to our writing?

We present faces to the world that match our roles: mother, friend, sister, boss. But in truth, who are we? Behind all your faces, who are you? 

• What do you care about?
• What do you want?
• What cheers you, what causes you harm, or drives you?

What tag line sums up who you are?

I've thought about those questions. I've searched for answers, direction, and inner peace. In the distant past, I thought I was the only one searching for these answers. Turns out I do not have a monopoly on the questions. Everyone I've met has asked these or similar questions more than once in their lives.

We start as babies with a clean slate. People we meet, the circumstances of our lives, and all the actions we take, inscribe indelibly on the slate that represents who we are. But do we let the writing of others define us? Or do we search out our own identity? Can we learn from our histories?

Each of us is unique and our answers will be ours alone.

I don't pretend to have answers for you. I have found a few for myself. However, those answers shift with my mood, my circumstances, and my heart. I continue to search, to redefine, and add new purpose in my life. At seventy+ years old, I know certain truths about myself. I have chosen tag lines to guide my behavior.

In stories, I like a puzzle, struggling human characters, and an ending that offers hope. In my writing, I strive to offer those ingredients to my readers.

In my books, you’ll find stories about:

• the puzzle of inner and outer identity
• the impact of people and circumstances on my characters
• the course of overturned lives
• characters who find inner strength and skills to put things right in their world

In life, my frequent questioning about who I am, why I’m here, and how I can cope shapes my life. I seek to find answers for myself.

For stories, my tag line is:

Stories that set things right.... characters that find their way.

Here’s a tag line my mother taught by example.

Leave everyone and everything better than you find them.

• When we ate at a campground on a road trip, she picked up trash left by others.
• When we used a public washroom, she wiped down not only the sink she used but the others as well.
• She picked up children who had fallen, held doors open for seniors, and smiled at people she passed.
• Small actions that took moments but left things better than she found them. They may seem trivial, but like sands make a beach, small actions make a good life.

Her life might have also had this tagline

When you fall, get up and try again, and never turn down a good laugh.

For me, that line helps me stay focused and to make daily decisions in all areas of my life.

Learn, love, and share.

Writers - Do you have a tag line for your books?

People - Do you have one for your personal life story?

• Is your purpose to help? Teach? Create? Fix? Build?
• Which of your actions leave you smiling and joy-filled?
• What is your daily intent? Can you sum it up in one line?

How would you summarize your life ideas into one line?