Storytelling: Mom Porn
Last week, I performed in my third live storytelling event. I talked about the 1st one here and the 2nd one here. The 2nd one was a last minute thing back in October. The organizer of a fundraising event for Austin Bat Cave was short a storyteller and posted to the Facebook group of another local storytelling event looking for someone to jump in, so I did. It was a blast! I told a stay-at-home dad story about that time my 3-year-old son got called a chauvinist. I didn't get any audio of it, though. I forgot to record with my iPhone.
Last week I remembered to record, though! You can find it at Caterpillar Goo if you'd like to hear it. It's another stay-at-home dad story, about that time when I was interviewed for a national women's magazine. This was the first time I worked with show producers. Testify was started by Kate Caldwell, and she and Angela Maldonado listened to me run through my story a few days before the event then gave me very useful feedback on how to narrow its focus and punch up its emotional impact. Most of their production efforts, though, seemed to focus on making sure their performers don't get hammered before going on stage. I'm guessing there have been incidents in the past.
I'm thrilled with my storytelling experiences so far, and I hope they continue. I never would have, through the first 44 years of my life, guessed that standing up in front of an audience and telling a story from memory without notes would be something that I would enjoy. I would have been utterly terrified of the idea. I talked about that fear here. I'm so proud that I'm finding ways to push past my fears, not just in the area of public speaking but in other areas, too. Next I want to try pitching a story idea to one or more of the big storytelling podcasts, like The Moth or Snap Judgment. Why not? All they can do is say no, which is no different than what's happening already by me not pitching them stories. I guess I better get to work on coming up with a story to tell. Let's see... I don't want all my stories to be about divorce and stay-at-home dadding. Hmm... Did I ever tell you about the time that....
