Hi All,
I hope you’re looking forward to our next show coming up Thursday. This month is our 16th anniversary. Can you believe we’ve been doing this 16 years? Our little show is a teenager going out on dates, sleeping till noon, and flunking his driver’s test.
There are a lot of storytelling shows in Seattle now, but there were only two when we started in 2010, and only one was focused on personal stories. Does anyone remember A Guide to Visitors? As far as I know, it was the only storytelling show in Seattle devoted to personal stories before FGS. It’s the first place I ever told a story, and it changed my life forever.
When Fresh Ground Stories began in 2010 (under the name Emerald City MothUP), it picked up where A Guide to Visitors left off. AGTV was a curated show where you pitched your story idea to the producers, and if they liked it, they’d help you craft it. FGS has always been an open mic where no one, including me, knew what was going to happen each night.
Those were exciting times. We had a fantastic showcase of stories every three months with AGTV and a place where folks could work out new stories every month at FGS. AGTV is no longer around, but we have more story shows in Seattle than we’ve ever had before. Each one is special in its own way, and I encourage all of you to check them out.
The more places we have to share our stories, the more connected we’ll feel to each other. And feeling connected, even for just a few minutes, the length of a single story, is something we all need.
Our theme this month is “Now and Then – Stories of the past coming back.”
If you’re thinking of telling a story, here are rule and guidelines
If you’d like help or feedback on a story, write me directly at freshgroundstories at gmail dot com, and we can set up a time to talk on the phone.
We also have a free monthly online workshop that’s another great place to get feedback on a story you’re working on, regardless of where you’ll be telling it.
That’s all for now. I hope to see a bunch of you this Thursday on the top floor of the Swedish Club. We have 109 spaces of free parking! (I love saying that). I give away three annual memberships to the club at the end of each show, so be sure to put your name and email address in the Folger’s can before the show. You don’t need to be a member of the club to come to the show or tell a story, but it’s a pretty great place to hang out, and who wouldn’t want to win a free membership, right?
See you soon,
Paul
Fresh Ground Stories 