May’s theme is, “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.” This is always the start of the backwards journey I go on when I try to figure out why I did what I did and how it could have turned out so bad. 

I must have had a good reason for moving to LA with almost no money and a 1974 Opel station wagon. I must have had a good reason for hiring a singing telegram to give my two-week notice at the office party. Surely I must have thought out the consequences of playing tag with my eight-year-old son at the bus station where everything there is harder than his head.

But if I’d thought all those things through, I wouldn’t have the stories, and my son wouldn’t have a Harry Potter scar on his forehead. 

Come out on May 15th and tell a story about doing something with the best intentions, but it didn’t turn out quite the way you thought it would. What did you learn afterward? Did you ever figure out why you made that choice in the first place? Was it worth the lesson or do you wish you’d never made that choice at all?

Remember, all stories need a beginning, a middle, an end, and something at stake. Practice your story out loud on 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 on Thursday, May 15, at 7 pm at the Seattle Swedish Club, 1920 Dexter Ave, N Seattle, WA 98109

Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Thanks to everyone for coming out and being part of such a great night at the Swedish Club. We had lots of new faces in the crowd and three first-timer tellers at the mic. Last Thursday was our 15th year, and each one of you made it special for me. Thank you all so much.

For the last three months, we’ve had so many people come to the shows that we’ve finally outgrown the Queen Anne Chabad. The rabbi at the Chabad was incredibly generous in letting us use their upstairs room to tell stories after Covid. But if you were at our February and March shows, you know we were packed in tight and running out of things for people to sit on. For the last two years, I’ve been driving up from Olympia with 16 chairs in the back seat and trunk of my car to add to the chairs at the Chabad. Then in February, I had to ask my girlfriend to cram 20 chairs in her car and meet me up there. Unsustainable! 

Luckily, the Seattle Swedish Club has just offered us their upstairs room as our new venue. If you’ve never been there, you’re in for a treat. The room is full of windows and has an amazing view of Lake Union. There’s an attached bar where happy hour starts at 6:00 on Thursdays, so you can have a drink and relax before and after the show. If you had trouble navigating the 18 steps to the upper room at the  Chabad, struggle no more! We have an elevator 🙂 I have friends who struggled with those stairs, and I’m so happy they can come back to the show now.

Best of all, though, is something I never thought we’d have. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Have you filled out your end-of-life paperwork in case you have a heart attack when you hear what I’m about to say?

We have free parking! Yes, free parking in Seattle. What is this, 1940? No, it’s 2025, and the Swedish Club has three parking lots with 109 total spots! Amazing, right? 

Now that I’m thinking of it. The parking is only the second-best part of our new home. The folks running the club are the best part. They’re letting everyone come to the show without being a member of the club. All they ask is that I keep asking for donations at the end of each show, but instead of handing the money over to them to pay for the room, I turn the donations into annual memberships and give them away to anyone who wants one. 

That’s right. If you come to the show, you could walk away with a free annual membership. Do you know what members get to do? They get to go to the annual ABBA night on the 25th! They also get to go dancing on Friday nights with live music and dinner. They get to take classes and come to the monthly pancake breakfast. They also get to just hang out in a nice, clean place with a beautiful view and read a book or work on their next story. 

If you can’t wait for a chance to get a free membership at the show, you can be a mensch and join on your own. FGS will always be free to attend, but if you’re looking for a nice place to hang out (with free parking), the Swedish Club is a great place to do that. Plus, you might run into me there, scribbling away at one of these thank-you emails.

Here’s the membership page if you’d like to join (you don’t even have to be Swedish). Scroll down to the bottom for the $50 social membership

https://www.swedishclubnw.org/become-a-member

Here’s the club’s main page so you’ll know where it is and what that lake view looks like:

https://www.swedishclubnw.org/

If you’ve ever tried to find an affordable place to hold an event in Seattle, you know what a great gift the club is giving us. I told them I’d buy as many memberships as I could each month and give them away to anyone who wants one. I also told them I’d help them promote the occasional Viking story night, so stay tuned for that. 

Now that the big announcement is out of the way, I want to thank everyone who got up and told a story that night.

Bob started us off with the story of his first car. I’m happy to report that it died soon after he bought it, and 50 years later, he got a story out of it. You’ll never get a story out of a car that starts every morning. Treasure the junkers that only start 50% of the time. And think of all the nice people you’ve met asking for a jump start in the Safeway parking lot.

Micah, a first-timer, was next with the story of how he started a human composting company and what it turned into. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard a story about death, but it is the first story we’ve heard about what happens after death. Micah’s story was full of heart and even some laughs. I can’t wait to die now and be turned into compost.

Tracey was next with a story about being in a relationship with someone who was clearly wrong for her. Relationships, like cars, are always more storyworthy when they aren’t working. Thank you, Tracey, for showing us the importance of finding someone who isn’t afraid to pee in the woods. 

Samantha, our next first-timer, shared the story of how she’s spent most of her life fainting just about everywhere she went. But then, when her father needed her most, she found a way to keep standing. It was a sweet and funny story, and made me hope she comes back and tells more with us.

Paul B was up next with a story of how running down Mailbox Peak with his dog Izzy made him realize how much of being a human is wrapped up in running through the forest with a dog. Two days later, Paul and Izzy were walking up Mailbox Peak again when he met a woman who was at the show and heard his story. She was so inspired by it, she decided to head up the mountain herself. Stories are magic, folks. 

BTW – Paul’s story on Out There podcast just won first place in the Top of the Rockies excellence in journalism awards. You know what that means? It means you hear award-winning stories at FGS 🙂

http://www.outtherepodcast.com/episodes/joshuatreedepression

Brian stepped up next with a story about how his younger brother Eric was the baseball star of the family when they were growing up. Not long ago, Brian tried to relive his glory days and started playing senior baseball (which sounds like an orthopedic surgeon’s dream). When his brother came out for a visit, Brian asked him to join his team for a bit. Did Eric still have it? Did Brian finally show up his brother on the ball field? 

Next up was a wonderful surprise. It was Eric, Brian’s brother! He was in town for a few days and came out to see what his big brother had been up to with this storytelling business. It turns out that storytelling runs in the family because Eric told a great story of his own and maybe started a new family rivalry.

Gretchen was next with a story about walking into her first lesbian dance bar in 1984. I love listening to stories that haven’t been told in almost half a century. A young woman teased me the other day about being born in the 1900s. I have to admit, it does feel like a few hundred years ago. So it was nice to hear a story from the 80s that was still important to someone. Gretchen’s story was so timeless that my son asked if he could share the recording with a friend of his who was going through the same thing. Stories are magic, folks.

Cliff told a story next about his 7-year-old son jumping off the high dive and then challenging him to do it. You know you can’t be scared to do something that your kid just did. But how do you do a thing when you’re genuinely scared to do it? This was a beautiful story of a tiny moment from over 20 years ago that Cliff and his son still remember. I love stories of those tiny moments. Stories don’t have to come from big life-changing events. They can come from pausing for a few seconds on a diving board, waiting to step off.

Saloni was our final teller with a story she told at a Moth Grand Slam last year. It was a story of trying to help a young woman get through school and into a better place in her life. Of course, if you’ve ever tried to help a teenager do anything, you know you’re probably going to spend the next two years biting your tongue and waiting for the rare moments when it’s safe to offer advice. The story was equal parts funny and touching and absolutely worthy of the Moth Grand Slam. Except we got to hear it for free and up close. Thank you, Saloni, for the perfect ending to the show that night.

That’s all I got for now. Our next show is May 15. The theme is “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” If your name was still in Mr. Coffee at the end of the show last Thursday, you have a guaranteed spot on any future show. I can’t always get everyone on stage who wants to tell, so if I bumped you last Thursday, let me know when you show up at any future show, and I’ll make sure you get on.

See you at the Swedish Club in May!

Write me directly if you have any questions. Meetup doesn’t always send me replies.

Paul

freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Hi Everyone,

I have great news! Our usual venue isn’t available for our show next week but I found a new, bigger place for our show and it has…are you ready for this…a parking lot!

Yes, we will be telling stories at the beautiful Swedish Club which has a parking lot, a bar, an elevator, and an amazing view of Lake Union. 

I don’t have time to go into how it all came together but I can say the lovely folks at the Swedish Club are excited to have us and you don’t have to be a member of the club to come to the show. Isn’t that nice? I hope a bunch of you can join me there next Thursday. 

I do have one small change I’m making to the show that I think you’ll all probably like. From now on, the monthly themes will only be a suggestion. This month’s theme is, “Rising to the Occasion – Stories of doing what you didn’t think you could,” but you can tell a story on any topic as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.

Storytelling Rules and Guidelines

Here’s a sweet story I just found to get you inspired 🙂

That’s all I got for now. Write me directly at freshgroundstories@gmail.com if you have any questions. The address of the club is 1920 Dexter Ave N.
https://www.swedishclubnw.org/
Oh, I almost forgot. Next week’s show will mark our 15th anniversary. I think we’re unofficially Seattle’s longest-running personal storytelling show. I can’t believe it either. FGS has been my favorite day of the month since 2010. Thanks to everyone who has ever told a story, clapped for a first-time teller, or came up to me after a show and said hi. 

See you next week!

Paul

April’s theme is “Rising to the Occasion – Stories of doing what you didn’t think you could.” Did you leave your hometown and move to the city of your dreams? Did you end up in the job you dreamed of as a kid? Did you stop a robbery? Swim the English Channel? Maybe you asked out someone you know you didn’t have a chance with. That counts!

Come out on the 17th and tell a story about surprising yourself. It doesn’t have to be something big. It could be about killing a spider after a lifetime of arachnophobia. All a story needs is a beginning, a middle, an end, and something at stake. Start with the moment when you realized you actually did it. Build the story out from there. 

Remember to practice your story out loud on 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 on Thursday, April 17, at 7 pm at a new location this month, the Seattle Swedish Club at 1920 Dexter Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 (Remember, no non-kosher food in the building.)

Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com

Holy cow, what a night! We had over 90 people in the audience, and 16 people walk up to the mic to tell a story. I think that’s a new record for the number of stories we’ve had. Thanks so much to everyone who told and everyone who came out to support them. Most of us practice our stories alone in the car or pacing the living room in front of a confused pet. It means a lot when we finally get onstage and see so many people rooting for us.

I usually write a long thank you/wrap-up after each show where I talk a little bit about each story and what I loved about it. I often have to re-listen to the show to make sure I get the details right. I can’t do that his month because the show went so long that it would take me a week to give every story the number of words it deserves. 

So I’ll start by just thanking everyone who told a story that night: David, Sean, Carmen, Brian, Kate, Bob, Colleen, Jeff, Todd, Nick, and Jamie. Extra special thanks to our first-timer tellers: Karin, Linda, Douglas, and Debbie. I also told a story that night and will post a link to it at the end of this email. I don’t think I’ve ever done that but enough people asked me about the cell phone I talk about in the story that I figure I should share the story and the name of the phone.

One important thing I was reminded of that night was the importance of keeping the show to a manageable length. We haven’t had this many tellers since before Covid, and I haven’t had to bump anyone to a future show in a long time. But two hours is too long. So, in the future, I’m going back to what I used to do pre-2020. If the show hits 90 minutes, I’ll end the show then and give each person who didn’t get to tell my sworn promise that they can tell their story at any future FGS, no matter what the theme is. And if I bumped you last month, I promise you won’t get bumped next month. Just remind me before the show, and I will guarantee you a spot on that night’s show. 

I know how hard everyone works on their stories and I want you to know I value that. I’ve been bumped countless times from shows, and I’ve bumped my son more than anyone else when a show runs long. So I know how what it feels like to drive home without sharing a story you spent all month working on. But 90 minutes seems to be the perfect length for us, and I need to make sure we don’t need a vitamin B shot to get home after the end of it.

Thanks again to everyone who came out. We heard a lot of stories we would never have heard anywhere else. and hopefully talked to people we would never have met anywhere else. That’s the real beauty of FGS. If this was just a night of free entertainment, I would have stopped a long time ago. It’s the people I get to talk to before and after the show that keep me coming back. Next month will be our 15th year. I’ve made a lot of friends through this show and felt a lot less alone over the years because of that. I hope if you’re reading this and haven’t been to a show yet that you’ll come hang out with us sometime soon. You don’t have to tell a story. Just come out and listen and if someone shared a story that touched you, tell them afterward. It will mean a lot to them and a lot to you, too. 

I hope to see you at our show next month on April 17. The theme is “Doing what you didn’t think you could.” I’ll get the invite out this weekend.

Don’t forget about our free monthly online workshop. It’s a great place to get feedback on a story you’re working on:

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

I’m also happy to work on stories with you. Write me directly at freshgroundstories at gmail dot com and we can set up a time to talk on the phone. These calls are a highlight of my week, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Here’s the story I told at the show last week about my Starbucks cell phone adventure:

The name of the phone I buy at the end is called Sleke. I don’t want to leave a link here because it feels like I’m trying to sell you something. But if you’re curious after hearing the story, you can Google it and see what I’m getting. It should arrive in a week or two. I’m not affiliated with them in any way. I just had a great experience talking to the young man who helped create the phone. 

One last plug!

I worked on my story at two wonderful open mic story shows in the area. 7 Stories and Bar Stories Live. I always have a great time at these shows, and they’re run by really sweet people. Give’em a shot if you’re free some night 🙂

https://www.meetup.com/7-stories (their next show is tonight!)

https://www.meetup.com/free-monthly-storytelling-meetup/

Take care, everyone. See you on April 17! The theme is “Doing what you didn’t think you could.” I’ll get the invite out as soon as I can.

Paul

freshgrounstories at gmail dot com