Hi Everyone,

I’ll be one of the hosts of this wonderful show on Saturday, November 15. You’ll hear three people share personal stories of living successfully with a mental health diagnosis. Many FGS tellers, including me, have been in this show since it began in 2017.

These stories are touching, poignant, and often even funny. I’m proud of all the FGS tellers who have walked on this stage and shared their stories. This is one of the ways storytelling can make a difference in the world. I hope some of you can join me at Seattle Town Hall on the 15th to support our friends at NAMI Washington.

https://www.namiwa.org/brainpower-showcase

Here is the info straight from NAMI:

Join NAMI Washington for an evening of stories, creativity & connection to uplift mental health in Washington state on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at Town Hall Seattle’s Wyncote NW Forum. Supporter Shindig 5:45 pm, General Admission Show starts at 7 pm. Tickets are just $25 for the Show, or $100 if you want to share food & drink beforehand. 

We are partnering with the spectacular Path With Art to bring music, poetry, and more for a night of rich artistic expression, sweet audience engagement, and a few meaningful surprises. Festive dress is encouraged! Think top hats, fine dresses, anything fabulous you need an excuse to wear. This is your moment. Let’s celebrate the strength of the human spirit, the beauty of truth-telling, and the power of the arts to heal. We’ll see you there! Tickets: https://www.namiwa.org/brainpower-showcase

We’re doing it again!

We had 11 names left in Mr. Coffee for our October Comfort Zone show, so I’m going to do the same theme in November. If your name wasn’t called at the October show, come out on November 20, and I promise you’ll get a chance to tell it. If you’re one of the 11 but can’t make the November show, let me know, and I’ll make sure you get on another show. I hate bumping tellers!

If you weren’t at the October show, here’s the invite:

Come tell a story about a time when you left your comfort zone. Did you do it on purpose, or was discomfort thrust upon you? Do you rush in with excitement or get dragged in against your will? Did you quit a soul-crushing job? Jump into marriage after 50 years of living on your own? Maybe you learned to drive a car in your 40s when you left NYC and moved to Boise.

Did you conquer your fear of mice by covering yourself with peanut butter and hiding in my pantry? It might work. I have a lot of mice in there. 

Whatever you did to get out of your comfort zone, we’d love to hear about it. Or maybe you have a story about something else entirely. That’s fine too. Our themes are just suggestions designed to evoke memories. You can tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

Remember, all stories need to have something at stake. Ask yourself what obstacle you were trying to overcome, and build the story from there. 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, November 20, 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

We had enough money left over in Mr. Coffee for me to give away two more annual memberships to the Swedish Club. Email me directly at freshgroundstories at gmail dot com if you’d like to get your name in the drawing for one. If you’ve been to one of our shows, you know what a beautiful place it is 🙂

I’ll wait until Friday at 6pm to draw the two names. I gave away three memberships at the end of the show last week, but only one of those people wrote me back with their contact info. So, if you’re one of the other two folks who raised their hand, email me directly with your mailing address and phone number, and I’ll get your info to the club membership coordinator.

Paul

freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday and got out of their comfort zone. We had a great show with more first-time tellers than ever before. In fact, we had more tellers than ever before. I had to bump 11 people, plus myself, because we ran out of time.  

So I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. We’re going to do the same theme two months in a row, so those 11 people will have a chance to share their story of getting out of their comfort zone. 

Anyone who put their name in Mr. Coffee Thursday and didn’t get to tell has a guaranteed spot on next month’s November 20 show if they want it. If you can’t make next month’s show, I’ll guarantee you a spot on any future show. I had no idea that “comfort zones” would be such a popular theme!

Since I told everyone at the end of Thursday’s show that the next theme would be work, I’m going to do something else I’ve never done before. I’m going to recommend you pitch your work story to the teller who inspired the theme and runs a podcast where she interviews people who have been fired or laid off.

The podcast is called “Canned,” and you can find the most recent episodes here https://cannedpodcast.com/ or wherever you get your podcasts.

I’ve listened to a number of episodes and have enjoyed hearing how people from all walks of life dealt with losing a job and how they’re moving forward from it. I think it would be a great place to talk about how it felt to lose a job and what you learned about yourself afterward. It’s not a performance podcast, so you wouldn’t be telling an FGS-type story. You’d just be able to talk about what you went through and where you are now. There’s info on her website about how to pitch your story. She was one of our first-time tellers last week and is excited to be back and tell more with us. 

Ok, that’s enough from me. Thank you all so much for coming out last week, especially the first-time tellers who worked up the courage to walk up to the mic. I know it’s scary, and I’m grateful for all the work each one of you put into your stories. 

Write me if you have any questions (don’t reply to this since Meetup doesn’t always get replies to me). Our next free online monthly workshop is Nov 2.

https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories-storytelling-workshop/events/311509804/

Our good friends at “7 Stories” in Burien are doing their last show of the year this Friday, October 24. The suggested theme is “The One That Got Away.” Their themes are only suggestions, and you can tell a story on any topic. 

https://www.meetup.com/7-stories/events/311355203/

Hope to see you all on Nov 20!

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re all excited about tomorrow’s show. The theme is Comfort Zones – Stories of getting out of them. https://www.meetup.com/fresh-ground-stories/events/311245817

I can’t wait to hear stories of how you pushed yourself and did something you were scared to do. We all need to do that sometimes. If you’re lucky, you come back with a story.

If you need some inspiration, here is our good friend Mike Lockhart getting a standing ovation at Seattle Ignite last week. Mike told this story at FGS last year, and it was just as beautiful then. Scroll ahead to 2:05:05 to see the story he calls, “Morphine and Cheese Danish.” 

I can’t tell you how happy I am when I see one of our tellers knock it out of the park at a big show like Seattle Ignite or a Moth grand slam. A couple of hours ago, a friend and FGS regular called to tell me she just got back from telling at the Jonesborough National Storytelling Festival. When she applied to be considered, the recording she sent them was from a story she told with us a year and half ago. Jonesborough is the most prestigious storytelling festival in the country, and hard to get into. But one of us did it!  https://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/main/

One of the reasons we get such great tellers is because we have such great audiences. Even if you never tell a story, I’m incredibly grateful that so many of you come out each month to cheer on each person who does. It means a lot to the tellers and a lot to me.

Here’s a sweet story of people coming together that reminded me of the feeling I get on the third Thursday of each month 🙂

See you all tomorrow!

Show starts at 7:00 and we’re on the top floor of the Seattle Swedish Club.

Paul

Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com