It’s December 30, 2025, and I’m happy to announce that I’ve just completed two full weeks of saying no to people. It’s fantastic. I’m a no machine! No’s have been flying out of me left and right.

You should go keto. No.  

You’re looking sad. Have a piece of cheesecake. No.

You should turn your house into an Airbnb. No.

Buy a dozen Blackwing Palomino pencils even though you still have six left from the last pack. No. (I almost caved in on this one because Blackwings are the Kerrygold butter of pencils.)

I wish I could say I’ve been this good about saying no to bad ideas for years, but for much of my life I got talked into ridiculous things every other day. 

Climb up Suicide Peak with nothing but two cans of Coke and a Cliff Bar? Sure!

Try to swim across Lake Padden in Bellingham to impress a woman and have to get rescued in the middle by a 10-year-old in an inflatable Snoopy raft? Why not?

Buy a flip phone in 2024 in an attempt to break my smartphone addiction? Technically, this was a great idea if you don’t ask friends, family, or girlfriend. Not only did it break my smartphone addiction, it also broke off all contact with everyone I wanted to stay in touch with. I call this only half a bad idea because at least I got a story out of it.

What I’m saying is, sometimes getting talked into stuff can lead to a great story, if you don’t have to tell it from jail or a hospital bed. Come out to the Swedish Club on Thursday, January 15th, and tell us about a time when you got talked into something you wish you hadn’t. Or maybe even a time when you almost got talked into something and bailed at the last moment. That could be a great story too. How did it happen, and what did you learn? Did you grow wise or bitter from it? 

FGS themes are just suggestions, so you can come out and tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.

Remember, a story isn’t just a series of things that happened. There has to be something at stake. As you work on a scene or section of your story, think about what you’re trying to overcome in that moment and what would happen if you didn’t. That’s what will pull the audience along. 

Practice the story out loud to as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing 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:

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

Our free monthly online workshop is a great place to get feedback on your story. 

https://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories-Storytelling-Workshop/

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

See you Thursday, January 15, at 7 pm on the top floor of the Seattle Swedish Club 1920 Dexter Ave, N Seattle, WA 98109

Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone who took a break from their Christmas shopping and holiday errands to hang out with us at the Swedish Club and hear stories about secrets. 

Benny started us off with a hysterical story about coming out to his parents, but subtly trying to instruct his family beforehand in how to receive surprising news with grace and patience. I can’t do the story justice here, but I hope he tells it at The Moth one day and we get to hear it on the radio.

Jackie, our first first-timer of the night, was next with a great story of waking up naked in a living room in the middle of an Anna Karenina book club meeting. My secret dream! How does waking up naked in the middle of a book club keep not happening to me?

Dave, our favorite Canadian, was next with a story of learning how to fly a Learjet with flash cards. Yes, I know Canada has 41.5 million people, and it may sound strange that Dave is our favorite out of all those. But if you’d heard the last couple of stories he’s told with us, he would probably be your favorite too.

Craig was our second first-time teller and told a story about breaking one of those fancy nutcrackers in Joanne Fabrics when he was four years old. He never told his mom what he did, and that secret has stayed inside him all these years later. It’s funny how sometimes the smallest things stay with us for decades. If I were Craig’s dad, I would have absolved him immediately since I’ve always felt those nutcrackers were the Chucky dolls of Christmas. If you wanted to terrify me as a kid, all you’d have to do is line up some nutcrackers a shelf in my bedroom and let me spend the next eight hours being chased around my dreamscape by them.

Lisa, our next first-timer, told a beautiful story about her first Christmas without her mom. It was a story about grief and what to do with it. Do we allow others to support us, or do we stick to ourselves as a way of not burdening others? I loved the way Lisa took us on the journey of how she came to decide who to spend Christmas dinner with. It let us know that there’s no right or wrong way to grieve, and the only way through is to put one foot in front of the other, trusting in where that takes you.

Bob was next with a story about a road trip through a blizzard in South Dakota in a cargo van with a weak heater and three on the tree. If you don’t know “three on the tree” means, then Bob and I are older than you by at least a couple of decades. Three on the tree means the gear shift is on the steering column and notoriously hard to operate. There are no numbers or letters on the stick, so you never really know what gear you’re in until you’re going up a hill and realize you are definitely in the wrong gear. Luckily, Bob ended up making it to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD where his parents picked him up. Maybe next month we’ll hear a story about that famous corn palace 🙂

Todd was up next with a story that begins with bar hopping in Ballard and ends with a discovery that we are only as sick as our secrets. And a secret shared is a secret halved. The trick to sharing secrets is finding the right people to share them with. Thank you, Todd, for trusting us with your secrets.

Kate was next with a story about shoplifting from the nickel box at her local thrift store when he was a kid. She felt so guilty afterward that she went back later and snuck the item back into the nickel box. Way to go Kate for doing the right thing! I am still feeling guilty over stealing a pair of 3-inch scissors from a kid in fourth grade in Fairbanks, AK. I still have those scissors. Should I Google him and mail them back? Thanks to Kate, I now have a holiday problem to ponder.

Ashley closed our show with a great story of how to wrestle an alligator in high heals. I’m not going to tell you how it’s done because I want all of you who missed the show to regret not getting this important information. I sure hope you don’t fall into a bayou in your ball gown one day.

Thanks again to everyone who shared a story and everyone who supported them. Next month’s theme is Pressure – Stories of getting talked into things. I’ve already heard from two people who are getting their stories ready for that one. I can’t wait to see who else besides me has a history of getting talked into stuff.

Have a great rest of the holidays. Our next free online workshop is Sunday, January 4 at 1pm. 

https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories-storytelling-workshop/events/312369421

I’m always available by phone if you need help on a story and can’t make it to the workshop.

I hope to see a bunch of you on January 15th 🙂

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

We’re less than a week away from our next show! I hope 8-10 of you bring stories to tell. This month’s theme is secrets, but our themes are just suggestions. You can tell a story on almost any theme as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories/events/312229399/

If I had a secret to share this month, it would be that last month I went line dancing with my brother in Reno. Unfortunately, what happens in Reno doesn’t stay in Reno so I’m still fielding questions on what it’s like to be ordered around a dance floor by an ex-Marine dance instructor with a lapel mic. All I can say is that it’s the closest I’ve come to boot camp.

Here’s a sweet and funny story about dancing to get your storytelling juices flowing:

I’m available by phone if you want feedback on a story you’re working on. Email me and we can set up a phone call.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend. See you Thursday!

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

What’s the difference between a secret and something you just never bothered to tell anyone? No one knows that I am the 1982 Alaska State Hackysack Champion, novice division. Is that a secret or just something that’s never come up in conversation in the last 43 years?

When I was seven years old, we lived in a rented house that had a chandelier in the dining room. It was the fanciest thing I had ever seen, and I always wanted to touch the pendants that hung from it. The day we moved out, I climbed up on the dining table and touched one of those pendants. A few seconds later, my parents walked back into the house, and I jumped down so they wouldn’t know I was on the table. My mom saw the lamp gently swinging and thought the chandelier was saying goodbye to us. She told that story to a lot of people, and I never told her the truth because I didn’t want to embarrass her. I think this may have been the first real secret I kept from my parents. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last time I realized my mom believed in things that weren’t true.

Come tell a story about a secret you have. How did it happen, and why didn’t you tell anyone? Or maybe you discovered a secret about someone else. Did you tell the world or keep it to yourself? Did it change how you felt about that person?

Remember, a story isn’t just a series of things that happened. There has to be something at stake. As you work on your story, think about what you were worried would happen if people found out about the secret. Would you be embarrassed? Ashamed? Would you lose friends or get fired from your job? Did any of those things happen when someone did find out?  

Practice the story out loud to as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing 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:

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

Our free monthly online workshop is a great place to get feedback on your story. 

https://www.meetup.com/Fresh-Ground-Stories-Storytelling-Workshop/

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

See you Thursday, December 18, at 7 pm on the top floor of the Seattle Swedish Club 1920 Dexter Ave, N Seattle, WA 98109

Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday and helped us have a great show. It was so nice to run the Comfort Zone theme for the second month so we could hear all the tellers I had to bump last time. 

We heard some great stories that night from Stephanie who found the courage to stand up to people at a school board meeting, and Brian who whose mother had to do something she’d never done in order to get him to a baseball game on time.

Janet told us about Studebaker road trips and Helen Keller vacation, and Mary shared with us about a road trip from Seattle to Maine, where she was berated by people beyond the grave. Ariel taught us that you can do almost anything at any age, including swimming through shark-infested waters for fun. And Maliha about the significance of Amy’s Cheddar Bunnies and how her son surprised her in a way she never thought possible.

Kate told us how she conquered some fears and also how some of them can show up again in new forms. Ute told a story with an ending that surprised every single one of us, and Carmen shared a story of her own fears that ended on the shores of a great sea.

Simar began his story by telling us that he wasn’t supposed to be there that night, but by the end we were all happy that his original plan didn’t work out. Dave told a great story about how some of our greatest accomplishments can mean nothing to someone else. And Gretchen closed the show for us with a story of how she also wasn’t supposed to be there that night, but how sometimes telling a story of heartbreak can ease the pain a little.

Our next show is  Dec 18 and the theme is “Secrets”. I’ll get the Meetup invite out as soon as I can. Don’t forget, themes are just suggestions, and you can tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.

Also, if anyone knows who the woman in the second row was that I should have given a membership to Thursday, let me know.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope your day is filled with stories.

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com