Storytelling As A Business - Let's Focus on What's Next

Almost 100% of my family's income is derived from live performance.

A small percentage comes from my published work, and a small percentage comes in through my husband working PRN as a social worker twice a month. The rest of it? Live Performance.

Within days of the Stay At Home orders, The David, who is my husband and business manager, and I went into planning mode.




The realities of this situation were quite clear -

Live performance was on hold for now and for the foreseeable future.

We looked at our business model and asked some questions:

1. Can DLW Storyteller Inc. change the product we offer in order to sustain this business?

I'm the product because I'm a storyteller.
The answer?
No.

2. Okay. Do we need to change our business model so that we go from marketing a product to markets that already have audiences to creating our own audiences?

Yes, we could.
Do we want to?
No.

3.  Okay. Can we change the nature of the products our company offers to fit the current potential market?

We think so.

4. Excellent! How would we change that product?

We have to go virtual.

5. Excellent! What does that look like? Lots of Zoom shows?

Me - Don't know.
Not a big fan of distance learning.
Not a huge fan of distance telling.
I've done both.
Don't think I do a very good job at it.
In fact, I always feel like I suck.
You don't have one audience, you have forty or more and they don't react to each other because they can neither hear or see each other, and you can't have eye contact, and, and, and...

The David - Okay, Donna, stop kvetching. Artists. Sheesh!

Me - Don't roll your eyes at me. If I gotta do it, I will, but the whole killing me softly and destroying my fragile soul and that. Sigh. I'll adjust as needed, however...100% of our income at all

The David - Really Rolling His Eyes

7. RESEARCH TIme!

While we were researching some options, we got an offer from someone who wanted to market our virtual shows. We were pretty amazed at what he was offering, but we turned him down because he was asking what we felt was too much for being a middle man. We regrouped to think about our possible marketing and product offers.

8. We invested in some new technology, spent time trying to figure out how best to package our new presentations, asked advice, and feedback from people in our industry.

I spent hours making a ton of useless content that had to be deleted for one reason or another. It was extremely discouraging. I was also unhappy with the performances, grumpy about lighting, uncertain about content, and any number of things. So many fails!!!

9. We created a different marketing strategy with the idea of delivering our product in a different way that made it easy for organizations to consume.

10. We did some primary marketing.
The response was good, so we were optimistic.

11 - We launched a targeted national marketing push.

12. The response has been more than I could have hoped.


Our company has rebounded. We are on track to book more work this summer than was canceled. We are currently setting marketing goals and looking for audiences in the fall assuming that public schools are not going to be willing to allow random artists to move from school to school or that public and private schools are even going to be open.

Who knows how that is going to go, but we are moving forward.



- Every artist is going to have to make choices about how they go forward and what works for them. Not all virtual platforms are comfortable for all people. We have diverse skill sets and different needs. Find out how you go forward in a way that fits with your comfort level and abilities. Plan for the future in a world that looks like this.

For us, it means we have an entire branch of our company that did not exist before that we can continue to market even after this pandemic is at an end.


Start asking the questions you need to ask.
Examine your business model.
Consider how your marketing strategies must change.
"Be Bold! Be Bold!"
Failure means you tried, you learned, and you get better! If at first, you don't succeed and all.

Saw a meme the other day...

homemade chocolate recipe

If life gives you lemons throw them back. You deserve chocolate.

I also like:

If life gives you lemons, find yourself some water and sugar or your lemonade is really going to suck.

Storytelling, puppetry, clowning, dance, music, and teaching artists of all types know that our art form is also a business.

Let's focus on how we go forward.

Here is a link to the NSN Storytelling site where you can find a link to the Storytelling Relief Fund set up by Artists Standing Strong Together. You can apply for funding, or you can donate to the fund.

There are lots of organizations that are providing relief for artists. 

Take care of yourself
Be safe at home
Wash your hands
Stay socially distant if you have to go out

I'll see you on the other side of this.

Normal Doesn't Mean Anything - Let's Focus on What's Next

The Past Time!

Normal - adjective

1. 1.

   conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.

   "it's quite normal for puppies to bolt their food"

Next - adverb

adverb: next

1. 1.

   on the first or soonest occasion after the present; immediately afterward.

I know that many people are waiting for their lives to get back to normal. I know that they are worried about how long the current disruption is going to last.

There is a thing we need to address as artists. 

Going back to normal may not be a reasonable thing. 

We aren't going back to whatever was happening before. That time is now a past time. What we need to do is think about how we keep going forward from where we are.

Have you thought about different ways to market your art?

Have you thought about different ways to share your art?

Have you considered how you might make a living as an artist who works with live audiences?

What are you doing now for what comes next?

Now, I am not saying that you need to rush into something, or change what you do, or completely restructure your life. What I am suggesting is that you start thinking about some next steps and possibly different ways to share your art.

I work in schools. If they don't reopen in the Fall, I will have to have another plan in place.

The time to make that plan is not on September 18th. It is now. 

I like plans.

Plans give shape to the darkness.

Plans give hope to the void.

Plans are the first step in the longest journey.

Your plan doesn't need to be elaborate or even fully-fledged. 

The point of it is to start making your thoughts run down a particular path. It prepares you to try something you might not have considered trying.

It encourages you to explore an idea that you hadn't thought to explore.

It might make you try a thing that leads you somewhere else. 

Either way, come up with a plan.

1 - What are some optional ways of presenting your art form?

2 - How can you monetize that thing?

3 - Who would be interested in that product?

4 - How would I market it?

5 - How would I sell/distribute it?

Luckily, there are all sorts of systems out there! Finding them will be the key.

Research, consider, talk to other artists or people who make content like what you are offering.

Look for tutorials on Youtube. 

Call your friends.

You are not alone.

You are surrounded by resources. 

A friend of mine recently asked about how I was recording videos. He wanted to know what kind of studio situation I had. So, I showed him. 

This is my recording studio

Here is the corner studio where I do my work. 

So. High. Tech.

I am thankful for the friends who have given me guidance on recording, sound quality, setting the scene and potential ways to perform to a camera. 

Thank you, Simon Brooks, Jim Brule, and Sue O'Halloran!

We are all surrounded by resources. Living, breathing, resources.

Tap them.

We are all trying to get our brains around this new way of being.

Here is my other studio space.

I am not a technophobe, but I am not a wiz either. My learning curve is steep and treacherous but I am in there.

We can do this. We just need to start making plans.  

Happy Going Forward!

Making Sense of Time in Quarantine - Some Suggestions

Back when I was touring...you know, a month ago...I had this odd thing that happened regularly.

Most of the time, I was on the go. I had shows in the morning, afternoon, evening or all three, and they could be anywhere in the country.


The odd thing that would happen is that I would have the day off, get up leisurely, have my day, and then realize I needed something from the store. I'd get in my car, head out of my neighborhood, and discover that there were tons of cars everywhere! I'd miss light cycles, deal with impatient drivers, and find myself creeping to the store.

I would be so annoyed. "Why are all of these crazy people on the road like this on Saturday afternoon?"

Then, my brain would jolt back into reality: You are the crazy person. Today is Wednesday!


You see, any day I didn't work in the midst of my crazy schedule always felt like Saturday. I was home, my husband works from home, I got two cups of tea, had a nice breakfast, got to do some housekeeping, hung out with my pets, did some writing, and made some plans about shows, or

projects. Sometimes I even gardened, and of course, during the spring and summer, I get on my bike.

That sounds like Saturday.

So, any day I didn't tour felt like Saturday.

I suspect that in some respects, lots of people are starting to have this same odd feeling about time. It is difficult to know what day it is. This time fog makes days seem longer or difficult to grasp.

Sometimes events race and sometimes they plod, but there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Then there is the exhaustion that some people might be feeling.

As a performer, I deal with an odd physical reaction to not touring.

The days I have to get up and get dressed and drive out somewhere and perform, my body is prepped for that event. It is easier to get through the day.

On days I don't have to perform, I feel like a slug!

I suspect that this is because of the lack of energy boost and adrenaline. In my case, the expectation of performance, the routine of the day, the process of work itself, dealing with many different personalities, the commute - all of those things give me a boost.

Interacting with people live and in real-time allows us to share each other's energy. This is why some people make you tired and some people energize you.

Successful performers know how to harness and shape the energy they get from an audience to create a mutually agreeable shared experience. It is exciting, satisfying, invigorating, and exhausting.  It also requires an amazing amount of adrenaline!

On the odd days when I'm not performing, I get sleepy during the afternoon, and I don't always get up easily, or willingly.

I have gotten used to this odd thing, and I try to combat it by making lists of what I mean to do on my "days off" which don't always conform to a regular workweek.

People who are used to their workweek might very well be feeling this odd lack of extra motivation. It is hard to keep track of virtual meetings. Your brain doesn't think they are real.

source

The energy you get from your office environment is not impacting you. The way your office smells, feels, sounds, and interacts with your brain is absent.

There are people who you try to impress, and people who try to impress you. There are co-workers who hug you, ignore you, check on you, and give you that odd five-minute random conversation.

All of it is gone for now.


If you are feeling odd, sleepy, disoriented, and lazy - there is a chance that you are feeling this extreme lack of energy.

I don't know how long we will be out of synch with our lives, but here are some things I have had to do when I am in the throes of time fog from lack of structure.

1. Make a list of what you need to accomplish before you go to bed.
      a.  Put the date and day of the week at the top of the page

      b.  Plot out the day in times, and give yourself a time limit or guess for how long each activity should take.

      c.  Program breaks into that schedule if you can.

 2. When you get up in the morning, go through the same routine you would go through if you were actually going to work, including getting dressed in your work clothes or something comparable.


3.  If you can, have some designated time where you are working, and therefore unavailable to the rest of the people in your house.

- If you and your spouse are home with children, then this might entail taking turns doing homeschooling and childcare.

- If you are home alone with your children, and you are doing all of the childcare and the homeschooling....then you are hereby forgiven for everything. Get some sleep when you can, exhaust as many online services as you can. Lots of them are free. Good Luck! I am sure you are doing the best you can!

4.  When you are done with work, be done with it. Treat it as if you have left the office. Now, do all the home stuff you would normally do.

5. Make sure you get some kind of physical exercise.

6. Make sure you get some sleep!

These are obvious things, but it doesn't hurt to hear them again...and again...and again.

I know there are people for whom this time is especially fraught and dangerous. Just because our economy stopped spinning doesn't mean the things that plague us stopped happening.

If ever there was a time for us to look to our neighbors and help in any way we can, now is that time.



We can get through this. The longer we stay strong, the better chance we have of surviving this, finding a vaccine, and finding a way back to normalcy.

This is not forever...though with time fog, sometimes it feels that way!

Wash your hands.

Don't touch your face.

Wear masks in public.

Stay home as much as you can.

Virtual Hugs if you are a hugger.

Be safe.

Adjusting To Life

Three weeks ago I was exhausted. I was on a twelve-week touring jag with a single week off in the middle of it.

I was planning to be in Georgia, Florida, out in the Caribbean on a cruise ship, in Colorado, Chicago, and who knows where else.


There were keynotes, performances for adults and children, and multi-generational audiences, and I was ready.

I was ready to drive, fly, and boat to places unknown to find people who were happy to share stories with me.

Then.....

Everything.....

Stopped........

Fifteen thousand dollars drained out of my budget in less than twenty-four hours.

Festivals ended. The world shut its doors and told me to stay out...or in.

Megan Hicks, me, Jessica Robinson, Sheila Arnold

My husband and I drove to Virginia for the Woman's Festival. It snuck in just as everything was closing down.












We left VA, came home to NC, and locked ourselves in.









Our son had gotten his first true nibble on a job at a video game company...meeting canceled.

My daughter's university shut down and she came home to do distance learning.

The Mister works as a Social Worker at Duke Medical, got a cold, and was sent home for a week.

In the meantime.........I WAS NOT ON TOUR!


This is not a shocking thing. Nobody is on tour. All artists are in the same odd boat.

Well, there was only one thing to do. I had to make everything start again.

The brilliant Sheila Arnold

Financially, I was all right, but I knew that wasn't the case for lots of performers out there. Something needed to be done.

Sheila Arnold descended from the heavens and said, "Let's go."

Sheila and I started a group called Artists Standing Strong Together. It was a way to gather information about resources, classes, festivals, and anything else we thought our community needed.

A Facebook page was created by Jim Brule, and Sheila stated holding online chats, festivals, and story sharing. Did I mention she's amazing?

Jim holds Sunday classes on using virtual tools.



Artists Standing Strong Together, or ASST (assist)  also set in motion a fund for storytellers who are having trouble, and we intend to keep it going after this crisis is over. It will help new storytellers bridge the gap as they build an audience, and help others if they fall on unexpected problems.

(I promise I will get the links up as soon as we have them!)

I am an introvert by nature. Once Sheila was well underway, I became back-up. I have to be. I am too scattered to run an organization.

Meanwhile, I have been participating in online international festivals, local festivals, speaking on panels and attending meetings.

Finished editing a book. I sent it to my editor. I got more feedback from a friend I trust. Liked the feedback, waiting to see what my editor says. Know what to fix if I need to.

Started thinking about the next writing project.

Kelly Starling Lyons!

I am hosting a Story Lab on the 20th with an amazing author and friend Kelly Starling Lyons! I promise I'll post more about this!!!









I've been recording a virtual artist in residence experience, am currently in the process of buying a video camera because I will be doing more of them, and planning to record concerts for the summer reading series if it has to be virtual...


My family is home! I'm making meals, but am I offering them the healthiest possible things I can? Another trip to the grocery store.

Family Game Night!

Have I done enough baking? I don't see any more of those homemade donuts, I should get on that.

Oh, and I need to squeeze in a bike ride!

How much time have I been on the computer?

My husband works in a hospital. Totally not stressed about that.


MakeShift Recording Studio - No problem. GO!


Upload a new story!




STOP!!!!!!!

I have been on lockdown for three weeks. Some of you have been on lockdown less and there are a few places that have been locked down longer.

The truth is we might be locked down until mid to late May or June.

I am the gremlin that lives inside my head that feeds me messages that make me nuts.

Do more!
Be more!
Give more!

Not doing enough!
Not being enough!
Not giving enough!

Telling the gremlin to be silent is not easy.

Now that my days are unstructured, and my time is my own, I have to remember that I am enough.

I have to remember that breathing is okay.

I have to remember that hot baths make all the difference.

I have to remember that every single day is a gift.

I have to remember that I am only one person.

I have to remember that I am loved.

I have to remember that I am capable.

I have to remember that I am enough.

As we go through this don't forget that you are enough.

As for me?

Well, tomorrow I'm cleaning toilets, vacuuming, washing more floors, doing my daily doorknob cleaning, baking something sinful, reading with my husband, biking, planning some more virtual content, and spending time with my kids.

I'll get back to my frantic pace on Saturday if I have time.

Take Care of Yourself

Wash Your Hands

Pace Yourself

Happy Sheltering in Place!!!

Rimouski! - A Silly Tale about a Long Journey That Went Nowhere!

The Virus That Shall Not Be Named - A Touring Artist Survival Guide

I have been out of town since Monday morning. I've been in hotels and schools all over North Carolina. After my shows in Concord this morning, I had a four-hour drive in front of me to Roanoke Rapids. Since the route took me past my house, I decided to dip in, have some lunch, chat with my grown children, and then continue on my way.

I'd just started taking the first half of the week's laundry and such out of the car when I got the call that my shows for tomorrow have been canceled because of the virus that shall not be named.

My first thought...I GET THE DAY OFF!

Now, I like telling stories, but let me explain.

February is intense for African American artists because at times it feels like the month is trying to kill us. The joke I have is that even people who don't know they need any kind of performer suddenly need a black one.

It is one of those feast or famine types of things where February is a feast! By the end of the month, I'm pretty wiped.

The buzz word for February for me is SELFCARE!

I spend the month indulging in taking care of myself so I can end the month healthy and ready for Women's History Month, which - since I stopped doing historical reenactments of Sojourner Truth, Phyllis Wheatley, and Madam CJ Walker - is not only doable but downright enjoyable.

Then, the virus that shall not be named started racing around the world. People are part freaking out, part being cautious, and part being in denial.

Only you know where you land on that spectrum.

So, I thought I'd do a quick self-care and suggestion guide for touring artists based on the most up to date information I have.

So, here goes.

1 - If you don't have any savings, now is the time to put some by!

There is a chance that if you work in the schools, or in community situations your shows will be canceled. If you can put every other gig check in a savings account, I would do that for now. We don't typically have sick leave or paid days off. Prepare!

That's not always possible, but if you can, now is the time!

2 - Our scientists think that surface contact is a possible way this thing is spreading.

The current science says:

source

How long the new coronavirus can live on a soft surface — and more importantly, how easy or hard it is to spread this way — isn’t clear yet. So far, available evidence suggests it can be transmitted less easily from soft surfaces than frequently-touched hard surfaces, such as a doorknob or elevator button.

According to the WHO, coronaviruses may survive on surfaces for just a few hours or several days,  although many factors will influence this, including surface material and weather.

That’s why personal preventive steps like frequently washing hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and wiping down often-touched surfaces with disinfectants or a household cleaning spray, are a good idea.

Recommendation? 

If you have a portable container hand sanitizer, use it every single time you encounter a touchpad! There are touchpads in the grocery store, schools, at banks, at the gas station etc..

We are out traveling around and using community services more than others since we are constantly pumping gas or riding public conveyance. So, be aware of what and where your hands are. If you can't get to a bathroom and some soap, use that hand sanitizer!

3 - Don't shake people's hands!

I bump elbows. Do what you think is best, but understand that people are still offering their hands. It is a habit. I have avoided so many handshakes this week!

Recommendation?

There are lots of options as this ridiculous article in Forbes Magazine suggests. I still like the elbow bump.

4 - Wash your hands for twenty seconds...of course.

Here is that catchy viral song from Vietnam about washing your hands. The lyrics are in the second video, but the first one is full of cute Vietnamese youth doing the viral dance they have created for the song


Here is the original advertisement.



5 - Don't Panic-Buy Face Masks!

Please leave those for healthcare workers or people who are actually sick.

6 - Don't Touch Your Face!

This is an obvious one, but most people do not pay attention to this. It is an unconscious thing.

I was staring out at an audience a couple of mornings ago and was pretty amazed by how often the teachers touched their faces. The kids? Well, little kid's hands are a disgusting mess. I try not to think about their hands. It makes me queasy.


7 - Sanitize!

When you get home, wipe down your steering wheel, gear shift, and your door handles.

Of course, I have OCD and I'm a germaphobe, so do what you think is best, but I'm pretty sure it won't hurt anything!

8 - Please Listen To Credible Sources!!!

Knowing how to get good information is also important. If you read something that scares you half to death, instead of going ape, read some more sources and see what they have to say.

The CDC is usually a pretty good guide.

The World Health Organization is a good guide.

Your state department of Health and Human Services is also a good place to check. (This is the link to the one in NC)


If Billy Bob-not a doctor or epidemiologist or Karen-not a doctor or medical professional of any kind starts telling you to encase your house in cellophane or something equally foolish, please do not go out and buy all of the cellophane...I'm looking at you toilet paper hoarders...or panic.

A time might come to panic, but even then, getting good information will help make it a productive panic.

9 - TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!

Make sure you are getting enough sleep!
Make sure you are eating well!
Make sure you are exercising if that is your thing!
Make sure you are drinking enough water!
Make sure you are as healthy as you can be right now.



So, if you are an itinerant performer, these are some things you might want to consider.

If you have other suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Have a safe and healthy March!

Day - 25 - Valerie Thomas - She Helped Us See Earth from Space

Valerie Thomas

Another space scientist! It took me a while to be able to write this one because I didn't have enough science under my belt.

Valerie Thomas was born in 1943 in Maryland. She was a born scientist. She was fascinated by all things science. Unfortunately, she was born into a world where girls were not supposed to do science. I mean, we had other pursuits that fit us better.

She did not let the lack of support stop her. At the age of eight, she went off to the public library.

An aside - FUND PUBLIC LIBRARIES! For some kids, it is the only place they will find a window into a wider world!

Valerie checked out The Boy's First Book of Electronics. She loved it. Her father noticed her love of electronics, but he was just as uninterested in helping her out like everybody else. Nobody encouraged her to pursue her love of science!

Luckily this did not deter her. She found ways outside of school to indulge in her passion.

(Libraries. (cough, cough. Fund libraries!) Aren't you glad her local public librarian wasn't as close-minded as the rest of the people in her world?

She went to an all-girl high school! They were as uninterested in helping Valerie as everyone else in her life, and they did not offer much in the way of encouragement for her scientific heart.

source

Despite this constant beat of telling her that science wasn't for girls or girls like her, anyway, she did what all determined women do. She ignored them.

When she got to Morgan State University, she threw caution to the wind and enrolled in the physics program. She was only one of two women studying physics. I can only assume that she was tickled to have found some other girl who put her fingers in her ears and said, "la, la, la!" when people were telling her that science was only for boys!

Well, anyone who has seen the movie Hidden Figures knows what happened next. She was hired to work at NASA. She was brought in as a computer.

The black women who were hired early in NASA's existence had to have all sorts of wicked math skills. Valerie Thomas most certainly did.

I could spend pages and pages trying to explain what and how she did what she did.

If you want to get into how in the 1970s she became the international expert and go-to source for pretty much everyone in the world for information on how to interpret and use Landsat technology - this is the system of satellites that takes pictures of the earth. She was also instrumental in developing the LACIE program - Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment. - Click here and read the fascinating interview she did about both of these things. The point of LACIE was to measure wheat yields across the globe.

And I'll bet you thought NASA was only concerned with outer space.

Before she retired in 1995, she had been -

- Project manager of the Space Physics Analysis Network
- Associate Chief of the Space Science Data office
- Manager of the NASA Automated System Incident Response Capability
- Chair of the Space Science Data Operations office Education Committee
- Helped to develop the computer designs that supported research on Halley's Comet, studying the Ozone Layer, satellite technology, the Voyager program, and studying a supernova.

What did she invent?

She invented the Illusion Transmitter...obviously.

source

"What is that?" you ask.

1980 - Illusion Transmitter for transmitting 3D optical illusions developed

Valerie Thomas

The “Illusion Transmitter” is basically a device that would simulate a real-time, 3-dimensional viewing of an object through optical illusions with parabolic mirrors.

What did this do?

Well, it allows NASA to look at everything from outer space objects to a section of the globe as if that thing is right in front of them. They can look at it from all sides in great detail. It would be like getting a big slice of Mars as if you could reach out and touch it.

It sends images from space to earth.

NASA uses this technology to this day. It is also used in televisions and has been adapted for hospitals.

Post NASA, Valerie has been busy.

She earned:

The GSFC - Goddard Space Flight Center Medal of Merit
NASA Equal Opportunity Medal - For her work with getting women and minorities in the sciences

She works with:

satellite

The National Technical Association - NTA
Science Mathematics Aerospace Research Institute
Shades of Blue - is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to mentoring, tutoring, counseling, and arranging internship and employment referrals for young people who desire to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers.like

I am happy to share Valerie Thomas with you.

She made it possible for us to speak to our satellites and see the picture they sent back to us!