No More Red-Eyes! I promise, Tuesday Newsletters will not become a habit! My new resolution: No More Red-Eye flights! Traveling to Texas for the Tejas Storytelling Festival (and returning home) was not fun. The process of leaving late in the evening (actually 2:00 am the next morning) was not pleasant. I could do it "when I wore a younger man's clothes"...but not now!
I left Phoenix at 2 am and arrived in Dallas at 4:45 am, a one hour and 45-minute flight. Half an hour to retrieve my rental car, set the GPS on my phone and go. Not a good idea to drive at night in an unfamiliar city, while trying to avoid the toll roads, especially when the phone keeps saying, "GPS signal lost!" Not to mention that the roads in Texas, at least the DWF area, are very strange. The signage too. It should have taken me a half-hour to get to the festival town of Denton. It took me almost and hour and a half as I made several wrong turns.
I arrived at the hotel just before 7 am and went through their "breakfast buffet". Loren Niemi took one look at me and said, "here's the key to my room. Go up and get some sleep." Thirty minutes helped but did not do much for the bags under my eyes that were larger than the backpack I brought.
There's a lot more to tell... but suffice it to say that the Festival was wonderful, the people were wonderful, the stories were wonderful but the late flight home was not. On Monday, I was completely wiped out...thus another Monday-morning missed deadline.
My sincerest apologies to all and know that it will not happen again. No more red-eyes. I can't survive another!
A Day with Jim May & Mark Goldman CANCELLED CANCELLED
International storyteller and author Jim May will join local teller and author Mark Goldman for an All-day Workshop and Evening Concert on March 23rd in Phoenix, Arizona.
Morning Workshop participants will work with Jim and have an opportunity to examine their own life journeys in light of cultural influences, traditional stories, mythic symbols and archetypes. The juxtaposition of time for telling and listening to stories, reflecting, writing, sketching, discussing. provides a potential for powerful creative insight and artistic expression and output in virtually any medium.
CANCELLED
In the afternoon session, Mark will work with participants to explore Jim's concepts more deeply. He will help tellers take Jim’s prompts, symbols and archetypes to the next crafting level by using action methods to help tellers "concretize" aspects of their own stories.
CANCELLED
CANCELLEDThere will be early evening hors d'oeuvres and a concert by Jim and Mark. We may even have a few walk-in tellers!
The workshop will be held at the home of Sandy Oglesby and includes lunch.
All-Day Workshop: $59 (includes lunch) - Evening Concert: Donation in the pot.
SPACE IS LIMITED
If you are interested, please E-mail mark immediately at Mark@Storytellermark.com
Get your blog ideas ready
10th Annual A to Z Blog Challenge
From the A to Z Blog Site
It all began with a post from Saturday March 27, 2010 when Arlee Bird set forth a challenge to all bloggers for the month of April. Can you post every day except Sundays during this month? And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?
Most of the time if you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet. When April 1st lands on a Sunday you begin on that day which will be the only Sunday you would post during that month's challenge.
Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letterA, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z. It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself. The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day.
The Moth - MAGIC Thursday - March 14 , 8pm - 10pm
Crescent Ballroom - Doors open at 7
Theme:
MAGIC: Prepare a five minute story about enchantment. An “abracadabra” in your life that rebuffs logical explanation. The improbable, the impossible, the unbelievable come true—for better or worse. Great beauty, wild coincidence or a woman sawed in half before your very eyes! Pick a card. Any card.
Put your name in the hat, ten tellers will be selected.
*Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before the show. Admission is not guaranteed for late arrivals. All sales final.
$15 - Advance purchase recommended (with online fees, comes to $19.50)
Where are you? BE THERE...now you can begin. Recently, a colleague told me about reading this tip in my book and that it helped them when telling their story. So, here it is for you!
Chekov said, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
In the same vein, before you begin your story…take a moment to BE in the place where the story is.
Like most concepts in story, this takes practice. Don’t try this on stage for the first time. Practice it each time you begin to rehearse your story.
Don’t just visualize the place, BE there. Stand quietly; it may help to close your eyes. Look around, what do you SEE? Do you see beauty and light, or darkness and hate? HEAR the sounds that are there. Are they pleasant and comforting, or harsh and disturbing? Breathe in the SMELLS. Are they sweet or acrid? Use your body to SHOW what it is like to be in that place and time. Do you stand tall, or do you shrink in fear? BREATHE in again. Look around and SEE what is there again. BREATHE in once more…now…begin to tell the story.
This year we will spend 14 days on the ground, exploring Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Canterbury, Salisbury, Stonehenge and many more iconic sites.(subject to change)
We'll all tell stories as we travel through the countryside and meet the locals who will tell stories to us!
Don't miss this great Vacation/Education/Storyfication! May 11th - May 26th.
******************************* THERE'S A LOT GOING ON EACH MONTH ***************************
-------------------CHECK EACH WEBSITE OR THE CALENDAR PAGE TO CONFIRM DATES AND TIMES ---------------------------------CALL TO MAKE SURE THE EVENT IS STILL ON
FStorytellers - Female Story Tellers - Tucson
Usually sometime during the first week of the month - but check their website) at 7 pm - TUCSON https://www.fstorytellers.com/
West Side Story Tellers - Storytellers Guild First Saturday of each month - GLENDALE *NO meetings in July & August http://westsidestorytellers.weebly.com
East Valley Tellers of Tales -Storytellers Guild Second Saturday of each month - SCOTTSDALE - *NO meetings in July & August http://www.evtot.com
Storyfind Fourth Saturday of each month (usually - check calendar) - *NO meetings in June & July
SMCC Storytelling Institute
A monthly workshop designed to help storytellers build community and deepen repertoire. See the Calendar
- National Storytelling Network? You should be.
I promise, Tuesday Newsletters will not become a habit! My new resolution: No More Red-Eye flights! Traveling to Texas for the Tejas Storytelling Festival (and returning home) was not fun. The process of leaving late in the evening (actually 2:00 am the next morning) was not pleasant. I could do it "when I wore a younger man's clothes"...but not now!
In the afternoon session, Mark will work with participants to explore Jim's concepts more deeply. He will help tellers take Jim’s prompts, symbols and archetypes to the next crafting level by using action methods to help tellers "concretize" aspects of their own stories.
Friday - March 22 - 7:00 pm
