A client talked about telling only polished versions of her stories yesterday and I jumped in to correct her. Not great manners, it’s true, but this is a topic I have big feelings about. There are no polished versions of stories you tell. Every story you tell is always a story in progress. It’s a […]
There is nothing like flying into Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and looking down and seeing the particular Dutch landscape. As the plane descends over the North Sea, the coastline comes into view and as it flies ever lower, the shapes of fields and cities emerge. If we’re lucky, our flight path goes over Haarlem and I […]
If you’re looking for a brilliant gift for your favorite storyteller, I’ve put this list together for you. If you are your favorite storyteller, kudos for loving you so much and go ahead and share this with your friends and family right away! Since you readers are international, I haven’t included bookshop links, but if […]
When I started StoryCraft in 2017, I was excited, thrilled even, to teach people about story structure so they could tell better stories. What I didn’t know then was that people didn’t need story structure, they really wanted to learn something else. My first clue was when clients and workshop participants asked over and over […]
You probably think your life is pretty routine and that you don’t have exciting stories to tell. You get up, eat breakfast, go to work, take kids to school, study yourself, write, whatever it is that you do to fill your days. This mundane life does not seem to be the stuff of stories, let […]
In the past, I’ve written about how you can start a story library and how you can pick the right story for the moment. Today, I want to share with you a method to customize your story for your audience while you’re telling them and offer you a free Audience Analysis Worksheet that identifies the […]
By now, you’ve got a few stories in your Story Library and hopefully, you’ve told them a time or two and are starting to hone those stories. If you don’t have a few stories selected for your Story Library yet, go download a free Story Library Cheat Sheet and get yourself started there! The problem […]
Even before they’ve started working on their story, many people are worried about the delivery. I get it. No one wants to be caught out unable to deliver a well-prepared story. My answer is: you don’t have to memorize your story. It sounds impossible, but it’s true. The advantage of telling personal stories is that […]
None of us have just one story. We have a multitude of stories. We have a multitude of identities and selves that all need their own stories. I am a mother and a reader and a writer and an entrepreneur. I am also an immigrant, Chinese, American, Dutch, woman, and so much more. So are […]