A Week In The Life!

This week was a great example of what it is like to be a professional

storyteller. It is perfect. It had all of the elements of the job over the course of six days. So, if someone asks what we do, here is a great snapshot.

Monday 

On Monday, one of the marketing activities we do took place. It is called Arts Market, and is run by the North Carolina Presenters Consortium. 

It happens every year at the Durham Convention Center in downtown Durham, NC. Artists from as far away as California, Canada, and Europe come to court venues from Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. 

Whenever possible, Dave and I buy a double booth. We have lots of merch, and we like to have room to spread everything out on the table, and make sure we have a welcoming place for folks to sit and talk.

Spent the day going over my speech for the opening dinner.

I was the keynote speaker. The artists and presenters were there for it, and together, we burnt the house down. It was one of those "the arts are essential, don't let the atmosphere in the country get you down!" 

Tuesday 

Still at Arts market! Shaking hands. Meetings. Smiling until my face hurts. Oh, and there was another black lady there with dreads, so you

Twins!

gotta know that half of the people at the convention kept telling her they really loved her speech. Yes, this is part of being a teller. Sheila Arnold and Diane Ferlatte know of what I speak!

Wednesday

Still at Arts Market. Tired. Still smiling. Not much action today. Anyone who wanted to talk to me about possible work chatted with me yesterday. Today is for the last of the showcases. Still, gotta be there until 2:15.

Mango Lassis

After gathering our things and returning home, I had to go over my notes for my trip to Wilmington. Refreshing my memory about the Cameron Arts Museum, choosing material for my shows, and making
sure I have everything I need for my workshop on Saturday.

7pm - Closing Dinner at an Irish Pub where Carolina Quiroga talked us into doing the trivia game, got to talk to a re-enactor from Canada named Leslie, and hanging out with Lucas Vandergriff.

Thursday 

Packed. Drove to Wilmington, NC. Located dinner. Spent the evening familiarizing myself with the new material I needed to present on Saturday.

Friday

Performance at what used to be the Black school in Wilmington, NC. Their history is varied and intense. I was speaking at the venue that Martin Luther King was supposed to visit. He had been scheduled to appear on April 5, 1968...the day after his assassination.

Williston Middle School

I performed for 200 eighth graders. The organizer, September Krueger, was shocked. Her response? "You had 200 kids in there - and all that quiet!"

This reaction that makes me want to ask if they assumed they were feeding me to the wolves! 

Spent the rest of the day driving around Wilmington looking for good Gluten Free options. This time around I found Playtpus and Gnome.

Elk Burger - Platypus and Gnome!

DELICIOUS!

Saturday

One show at the Cameron Arts Museum. Monday? Over one hundred folks hanging on my every word. Friday? Two hundred thirteen-year-olds hanging on my every word. Saturday? Saturday was a public show at a museum.

Outside, Black re-enactors wearing Union uniforms from the Civil War had set up an army camp on the lawns. They had a drummer, a fife player, and lots of cool artifacts.

Union Re-enactors

Me?

I was inside at the very back of the museum in a room nowhere near the outside celebration. 

I have a policy about public shows. Whoever shows up gets stories, and as long as the audience outnumbers me, it is a show. So, I had a small, roving audience for my show. They came for a story or two and then left. A handful stayed the entire time. Kids came and went with their parents. I told stories to maybe twenty roving listeners.

The workshop was even more interesting. I had one woman show up for it in the beginning. So, instead of the exercises, we sat and talked about the history of the museum, and the vanishing of history when it isn't told. Over 45 minutes, people came and went. When I got new folks, I would just start the program over. I'd planned for fifteen-minute blocks. The assumption - which mostly held - is that people would roam in and out. I'd do the little exercise I'd put together, and they would leave. The last twenty minutes, I ended up with a block that had no interest in leaving. I found myself telling stories about marginalized communities, different perspectives on history, the importance of arts and education, why schools should NOT be extensions of family values, and how the breakdown of teaching civics in our country has led to people who have no idea how our government works.

The people who came had a great time.

Wilmington at Sunset through the window screen

I had a great time.

Then I drove home.

I arrived, did the paperwork - Mileage, recording stories, mobile deposit.

Unpacked.

Now, here I sit. 

So, a week of performance. From large engaged audiences to small, roving audiences who didn't come for storytelling, but were willing to sit for a while as their two-year-olds tried to escape. 

Marketing. Networking. Performance. Content Creation. Traveling. Paperwork. Writing.

A week of storytelling!

The work is always interesting, different, exhausting, unexpected, and sometimes just about the paperwork.

Being a professional storyteller is being a small business owner. Do the business end, and the performing end will come!

Happy Telling!

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