Hi Everyone,

I’m looking forward to this week’s show! Thank you for all the patience you’ve given me for having to take a month off for the family emergency. Hopefully, we can go another six years before that happens again 🙂

Here is a quick reminder of the rules and guidelines for telling a story if you’re going to throw your name in Mr. Coffee:

https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

And here is this month’s theme if you need a refresher:

Fresh Ground Stories – I Didn’t See That Coming – Stories of surprises

Thursday, Apr 28, 2016, 7:00 PM

Roy Street Coffee & Tea
700 Broadway East – Seattle, WA

121 Story Fans Attending

When I was a kid growing up in Anchorage in the 70s I always knew there was something different about my mom. She talked loud and fast and everyone said she had an accent though I could never hear it myself. She wore clothes she made herself but since she never used a pattern everything she made turned out to be a poncho. She looked like the Outlaw…

Check out this Meetup →

Before I go I want to tell you about a couple of cool things that just happened for two of our regular tellers.

David Schumer got a story accepted to 12minutestories.com. They put some Stevie Wonder music behind it and posted it here:

Is it Stevie Wonder? It sounds like him. What song is it?? I love it when people make a soundtrack for a story so you should check it out. The site wants us to send them more stories so if you get one accepted I’d love to know about it.

Also, Barbara Abelhauser just got one of the stories she told at our show on the StoryCorps podcast. AND they just told her that not only will she also be in the next StoryCorps book but a version of her story will be in an upcoming issue of O Magazine. We are officially one degree of separation from Oprah Winfrey!

I have no idea why O Magazine is suddenly publishing our kind of stories but I am not ashamed to say that I am totally jealous of Barb for getting one in there. For the first time in my life I am going to start reading O Magazine while I’m in line at Fred Meyer because I know that somewhere between, “Boost Your Bathroom’s Potential” and “Six Small Upgrades to Tacos That Will Blow Your Mind” there will be a story from one of my very cool friends.

Here is Barb’s blog if you’d like to listen to the StoryCorps podcast:

https://theviewfromadrawbridge.wordpress.com/tag/barb-abelhauser/

That’s all for now. Thanks for sticking with me. See you this Thursday at Roy Street!

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com

Hi Guys,
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the next show on the 28th. Thanks for all the well-wishes for my mom (stepmom, actually, but she’s been around longer than my biomom).  The pacemaker is keeping time nicely and she’s recovering at home. She is the toughest 87-year-old I know so we’re planning on her sticking around for a while. I was really touched by everyone who wrote me asking about her. This is why the fourth Thursday at Roy Street is my favorite day of the month.

While we’re waiting for the next show to roll around be sure to tune in to KPLU’s Sound Effect. Two of our regular tellers will be on the show sometime in the near future. Exciting, right? I am so happy I get to recommend some of our storytellers to places like KPLU. I’ll let you know more about each show after they’ve been recorded.

Also, April 16th is the last of Saturday of Bill Bernat’s monthly storytelling workshops before less frequent evening schedule for summer. It’s free, casual and very helpful. I can’t recommend it enough. If you have a story you’d like to tell but aren’t sure how to shape it, this is the place to go. Bring a story to work on: http://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories-Storytelling-Workshop/

Contact Bill through his Meetup site for more info.

Can I brag a little more about one of our storytellers? Barbara Abelhauser just got a story in the new StoryCorps book! I’m getting a copy as soon as it comes out on April 19. It’s a story she told at FGS last year and I’m excited to see it in a real life made-out-of-paper book. Remember those? Books are the things we used to read before smart phones.  I read online that they’re making a comeback and that is pretty exciting for people like me who whose home is littered with them.

Here’s the link to her blog if you want to read more about it: https://theviewfromadrawbridge.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/callings-the-purpose-and-passion-of-work/

One last thing. A Guide to Visitors is looking for more stories for their Advice Show on Tuesday, May 3. Do you have a story about advice someone gave your or that you gave them? How did it turn out? Send a brief summary of your story to stories@agtv.org and maybe you can be on the show.

I hope to see a bunch of you at our own show on the 28^th. Here’s the link to this month’s theme since it’s been a while since I sent it out originally: http://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories/events/229429995/

Let me know if you have any questions.

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com