Summertime, Summertime, Sum Sum Summertime!

Summertime, Summertime, Sum Sum Summertime!

We are in the midst of summer and, in spite of a heatwave in many areas, folks are making the best of it - ‘tis the season of lemonade, watermelon, flip flops, family vacations, and air conditioning.

Life takes on a different pace. Schools are out, so school storytelling opportunities are not as abundant. In some states, festivals are on hold until cooler temperatures. So we find some time that we might not have in the other three seasons.

No problem! Whether you are a beginning teller or a seasoned veteran of tale-telling, you might use this time for checking to see where you are with promoting your work.  To help you do that, we have just the thing.

If you are a member of the Florida Storytelling Association, you might have seen our August 2015 e-newsletter, page 5, where Linda Goodman gave us some valuable advice on the fundamentals of promoting your work. This will be a good review for both the experienced self-marketer and also for the teller who is just starting out.

Storyteller for Hire: Marketing to Build Your Storytelling Business

So you know you can spin a good tale, and you want to make a living doing it. Fair warning: It will not be easy. Taking simple steps, however, can get yours to where you want to be if you are willing to spend the time necessary. Based on my 27 years of experience, these are some of the strategies that work for me. More will follow in future issues of this publication.

• Have a good product. If you want to make your living storytelling, you must have polished stories to market. Ideally, you should have a solid 45-60 minute program of good stories geared to a specific market. Your stories should be unique, and they should be stories that you love. You should have chemistry with your story, just as romantic leads have chemistry with one another in a movie. If the story makes you go "ah", it will have the same effect on your audience.

• Unless you have saved enough money to support yourself for at least two years, or have a partner who is willing to support you, DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB UNTIL YOU HAVE STEADY INCOME COMING IN ON A REGULAR BASIS FROM YOUR STORYTELLING ENDEAVORS to cover your needs!! It takes time to build a fan base that is large enough and diversified enough to support your making a living at storytelling. Don't allow yourself to be seduced by the sporadic lure of accolades and applause into putting your financial well-being on the line. This is not a get rich quick business.

• Set up a professional website. It should include photos, your biography, the benefits that your stories offer to your target audience, a summary of your programs and workshops, good videos of you telling your stories, and accolades that you have received from others. If you cannot create a website that looks professional, hire a professional to do it for you. You URL should be something that the public will readily associate with you (your name, your brand, etc).

• Craft your elevator speech; a brief, persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in your storytelling. A good elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride of 20 to 30 seconds. © Linda Goodman 2015

For more helpful articles like this, be sure to spend some time in FSA’s archives of our e-magazine. In March of 2016, the magazine found a new name, “The InsideStory.”

Wanda Violet

No Summer Slump

No Summer Slump

So, summer is here, school is out, and people are off in different directions going on vacations. Things seem somewhat quiet, don’t they? Why even the traffic in town is a bit less congested because of the absence of school buses making their rounds twice a day.

Ah, but storytellers, stay alert. Summer is not a dull or dry season when it comes to stories. Listen and watch the world around you. Look for those moments where a story is forming and take a few notes so that you can develop your tale later.

Here are a few practical habits to help you capture stories this summer:

1.     Keep a Bits Journal.  This is a listing of interesting details that might be used in future stories.  Storytellers are keen observers and keeping a journal will provide a storehouse of potential material.  Entries might include interesting observations, details from your everyday life, snippets of overheard conversation, memories you are interested in exploring, etc.

2.      Visit an art museum.  Take in the art and ask yourself, “What does this make me think of in my own life?” Often art begets arts.  Surrounding yourself with beauty and creativity will often remind you of something that would make an interesting story.

3.     Visit family members. Talk about shared memories.  Enhance what you remember with the new details offered by their memory of shared experiences.  This informal research will prove valuable if you decide to develop one of these memories later.

4.     Take a vacation tour of your childhood places.  Visit the home you grew up in, the school you attended, the neighborhood park where you played.  Record any memories these places inspire.

5.     Be on the lookout for stories everywhere.  It may be that while you are digging through your garage looking for that lost life-jacket that you will find a special treasure or beach toy that will stir up a memory asking to be nurtured into a tellable story.

There’s no telling where you will find a story. Nope. When it comes to storytelling, there is no summer slump. Keep your eyes and ears open for your next story. It is just waiting for you to see it, and it is waiting to be told.  Happy summer – happy story gathering!

Robin Schulte and Wanda Violet

Six Is Better Than One

Six Is Better Than One

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Do you have a favorite number? Is the number seven your lucky number? How about three? This year at the Florida Storytelling Association (FSA) we have a favorite number, too. The number is 33. Yes, that’s right. We love the number 33 because it is, including this current festival, the number of festivals that we have produced and enjoyed with many of you. Remember when it was called “camp”? Yes, storytellers gathered together and camped out telling stories. Now, we have a new atmosphere at our festival as provided by the historic Lakeside Inn. Oh, the stories that beautiful hotel on the lake could tell.

  

On March 30^th, we gather with our featured presenters, Tim Lowry, Jessica McCune, Lyn Ford, Pat Nease and Windell Campbell for a full and fun weekend of stories, workshops, and concerts. If you join us this year, you will be so glad you did.

So register today!  And, for those who preregister, we have a great treat for you! While everyone who buys the weekend package at the door receives a complimentary raffle ticket that is entered in the drawings for the amazing door prizes, if you register by Wednesday night at midnight, you will get a bonus gift of five, yes five, additional raffle tickets that you can use to enter any of the four major door prizes. Think about it, by getting your tickets early, you will have five more chances to win one of the following:

1.     One year membership to the National Storytelling Network

2.     2017 National Storytelling Festival Registration

3.     Bountiful Basket of Story-telling books and resources

4.     2018 Florida Storytelling Festival Registration

Of course you could have purchased those five extra raffle tickets like everyone else when you arrived, but by registering early, you will already have a total of SIX free raffle tickets to use in ANY of the four drawings. Pretty cool!

So, take a moment now and register for the festival. You can register and prepay at www.FLstory.com

And, who knows, 33 just might be your lucky number.

See you at the 33^rd Annual Florida Storytelling Association Festival!

CAN YOU HEAR IT?

Listen.

Can you hear it?

The word is out and is blowing in the breeze whispering to you that the 33^rd Annual Florida Storytelling Festival is coming to life. Tellers are coming from far and wide, as are attendees, a.k.a. listeners. Stories are simmering on the burners of those tellers’ stoves and will come to full done-ness on the stage at Mt. Dora, making for a wonderful feast for all to enjoy.

The Florida Storytelling Association (FSA) Board of Directors and the Festival Director have all been busy getting the ducks in a row for the event.  If you have attended very many storytelling events, you know that the FSA hosts one of the most exciting, rich events anywhere. With the dynamite main stage, the Florida tellers, the Youthful Voices, the many workshops and open-mic events, you will be overwhelmed with opportunities to participate and to listen.

Join us starting Thursday, March 30, and stay for as many events as you can all the way through Sunday, April 2. While we don’t know which session will be your favorite, we do know that you will leave with some stories to tell!

Visit http://flstory.com/festival/ for workshop descriptions, a complete schedule, and much more!