This month’s theme is “Starting Over.” I’ve been trying to count up all the times I’ve started my life over in some fashion I have to admit I’m surprised at how many times I’ve had to do it. I didn’t think my life had taken so many twists and turns but it looks like my life has mirrored Billy in The Family Circus comics when he takes up the entire Sunday panel to find his way home from the playground. I know, The Family Circus, is the most unfunny cartoon in the history of ink, but it’s the image that keeps coming to mind. 

Part of me dreads the idea of starting over. Who wants to pack up all those boxes and move across town again? Especially if they’re emotional boxes. Is there one person among us who wants to dig up that old Plenty of Fish profile and go back online again? Or dust off the resume and wrestle with the idea of taking “good attention to detail” off it for good? 

Fortunately, I have 487 self-help books on my shelf that say, “You have a 100% success rate of picking yourself back up again.” I’m pretty sure even Plato scrawled that on a wall somewhere. What helps me more than any self-help book, though, is seeing someone right in front of me tell a story about a time when they had to start over. So that’s what we’re looking for next month on October 15.

Come tell a story about a time you had to start over. What happened and what was at stake? Did you flunk out of school? Were you thrown in the pokey? Left a the altar? What did you learn at the end of it all? Did you surprise yourself? I love it when we surprise ourselves. 

Remember to practice out loud as much as possible on friends and family. Time yourself too because your story has to be under eight minutes.

Here are the updated rules and guidelines for telling:

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

I’ll send out a Zoom registration link to everyone in the Meetup group on the day before the show. Feel free to RSVP on Meetup if you want the automatic reminders but I’ll be sending the Zoom link to everyone in the group regardless of your RSVP. Let me know if you don’t get my registration email by 5pm the day before the show. I can send it to you directly if you’re not getting my emails through Meetup.

We only have 100 spots in each show (98 actually since me and my assistant each take one spot) so the first 98 people to register for the show will be the only ones who can attend. If you want to tell a story, email me ASAP so I can send you the registration link before I send it to everyone else. 

Please write if you have any questions.

See you on the 15th!

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com