February’s theme is, “ Starting Over – Stories of moving forward.” There are so many ways I could describe how we’re starting over with our in-person shows. It’s a new year, in a new venue, with new tellers, and no Zoom links. Usually, I dread starting over in any part of life but I’m excited about this because of all the new people we’ll meet and the new stories we’ll hear.

Since we’re all trying to figure out how to move forward after the pandemic, I think it’ll be good to hear stories of how we’ve moved forward from other big things. Have you had to regroup and move forward after the end of a relationship? Getting fired from a job? The death of someone you couldn’t live without but had to? Maybe your kids moved out or you found yourself alone with no purpose. Did you ever end up in a new city and had to make new friends as an adult? What was the moment when you realized you had to suck it up and get going? Come tell a story about a time when you had to start over and what you learned about yourself in the process.

Remember to practice your story out loud on as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. All stories have to be under 8 minutes. Stories can be as short as you want but not over 8 minutes. Stories also have to be clean in both language and content. Send me an email if you have any questions about that.

The rest of the rules and guidelines are below: https://freshgroundstories.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

Workshops are a great way to get feedback on a story you’re working on. Here is one I highly recommend. It’s run by two people who have told many times at FGS and other shows in the area:  https://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories-Storytelling-Workshop/

I’m also happy to help anyone with a story they’re working on. Send me an email and we can set up a phone call.

See you on Thursday, February 16th at 7 pm at the Chabad of Queen Anne – Magnolia! 1825 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 (Remember, no non-kosher food in the building)

Paul Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com