Hi Everyone,

I’ve had an exciting 24 hours here at Castle Currington. My toilet blew up last night, flooded the bathroom, and then went ahead and flooded the basement. Carpenters and insurance agents have been called but the house is a mess and half of it is without electricity.

So…I have to cancel this month’s show. I have shop vacs to return, towels to dry, and 100’ extension cords to stretch through the house for power. Luckily, I haven’t fallen through the floor in the bathroom yet, but if I do I’ll have a great story for the January show on the 19th. We’ll keep the same theme “Hard Knocks – Stories of lessons you didn’t want to learn” but I’m also opening it up to any theme you want as long as it follows the standard FGS rules.

Here’s the invite that I’ll be changing the date on later tonight: https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories/events/289979741/

In the meantime, we’ve got a couple of great workshops coming in January if you’d like some help on a story 🙂

FGS monthly workshop with the amazing Dave and Colleen: Sunday, January 8 (online) https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories-storytelling-workshop/events/290167733/

If you miss Dave and Colleen’s workshop you can come to one I’m doing in Burien on January 11 for the wonderful folks at 7 Stories and they’re allowing FGS folks to join us. There’s only room for 12 so email 7stories@burienculturehub.org if you’d like to bring a story to work on.

I hope you’re all having a great holiday and that you don’t find a new toilet under the tree 🙂

See you in January!

Paul

freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

I’m holding a free workshop on January 11 for the wonderful folks at 7 Stories and they’re allowing FGS folks to join us. There’s only room for 12 so email 7stories@burienculturehub.org if you’d like to bring a story to work on.

-Paul

Hi Everyone,

Our next show is coming up in a week. The theme is Hard Knocks but I’m opening it up to any theme you want as long as you follow the usual rules.

I’m free to help anyone on a story. Just write me an email and we can set up a time to work over the phone. (I don’t get replies so you’ll write to start a fresh email)

Here’s a beautiful story about courage and turtles if you need some inspiration 🙂

See you next week!

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Hard-won wisdom. That’s redundant, right? Is it wisdom if you didn’t have to get knocked around a bit to learn it? For me, whatever wisdom I’ve learned has come with a nice helping of pain, shock, or embarrassment. It seems to be the only way I learn. Luckily, it’s very effective. If wisdom came with a slice of pie, it wouldn’t stick. When it’s delivered with a nail through the heart or a wrecking ball to the ego, I tend to remember it quite well.

December’s theme is, “Hard Knocks – Stories of lessons you didn’t want to learn.” Come tell a story on December 15 about a time when you learned a hard lesson. How did it happen? How did it change you? Did it involve pain, shock, embarrassment? All three?

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 (freshgroundstories at Gmail dot com) if you have any questions about that.

The rest of the rules and guidelines are below: 

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

I’ll send out the Zoom info through Meetup on December 12. I’ll also post it at https://freshgroundstories.com

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 on a story. Send me an email and we can set up a phone call. 

See you on December 15th at 7 pm on Zoom!

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone who came out to the show last Thursday! November and December are tough months to do shows because so many people are either getting ready for the holidays or coming down with the flu. Luckily, we had enough tellers for a show and ever had a couple of first-timers 🙂

First-timer Sharon started us off with a story about becoming friends with her ex-husband’s ex-wife. The story required some detailed, family-tree explaining but it’s always interesting to see how old relationships can morph into something entirely unexpected. Every now and then they end up planting seeds for new relationships that don’t bloom until years later. Also, special bonus for our first Hooters reference!

Deborah was next with a story about anxiety, secrets, and gratitude for her body always being there for her. How many of us ever look at our bodies and give thanks? How many of us even realize how much our bodies have carried all these years? Her story ended on such a beautiful line I want to share it with you, “Out of the darkness, through the shadow, and into the light.” I hope everyone reading this can one day have a story that ends like that. Thank you, Deborah.

Theresa, another first-time FGS teller, told us about a sailboat ride that changed her life. Sometimes saying yes leads to a marriage proposal while pumping gas at a Texaco, a 25-year marriage, and two wonderful kids. Most of the time I only remember the times saying yes didn’t work out. And those memories keep me from saying yes to new people and possibilities. Saying no feels safer but I worry that it’s led me to a smaller life. I must learn to say yes! Tonight, for instance, I said yes to an entire bucket of fried chicken. I’m also thinking of hanging out at the local Texaco to see if I can spot true love about to happen.

Special kudos to Theresa for telling her story while wearing a parka and huddled in what looked like a research station in Antarctica. Even though it turned out to be a spare room in her house, I’m giving her credit for holding up under freezing conditions.

Maryanne was next with a story about five-year-old Maryanne growing up in Windy Gap Holler in Appalachia and watching her brother go turkey hunting. I love any story where a wild animal is given a human name. In this story, the turkey her brother was after was a mythical, unhuntable turkey named Hector. What happened to Hector, and how Maryanne almost ended up on the dinner table herself, will remain a mystery until she decides to tell this story again. All I’ll say is that we should all be glad we don’t have to match wits with Hector this year.

Since we were short a few tellers I decided to tell a story of my own that I’m having trouble coming up with an ending for. I got some great feedback from everyone at the show and will be working on a new ending over the next couple of months. I was especially glad that my son was there to hear me tell it because he happily authenticated everything that happened in that story even though he was 12 at the time. Thanks for having my back, kiddo!

The theme for our next show is, “Hard Knocks – Stories of lessons you didn’t want to learn.” I hope I’m not the only one who had to learn a few hard lessons over the years. The show will be on December 15th. I’ll get the invite out as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I hope you can check out Gretchen, one of our wonderful tellers, in a play she’s in at the Taproot theater. It’s called, “The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley.” Here’s the link for more info: https://taproottheatre.org/

She also appeared on stage at Story Collider recently and told the following story that begins at 17:25 of the audio (I couldn’t find a video)

https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2022/10/19/pain-stories-about-unpleasant-physical-sensations?rq=gretchen

Congratulations on all the stage success Gretchen!

Big thanks to Kent Whipple for helping produce Story Collider in Seattle. If you’re looking for true, personal stories about science, Story Collider is the place to go 🙂

https://www.storycollider.org/

See you all on the 15th!

Paul