Storyteller.net Thought Leadership Article

Thanks for the article, Tim. (Hey friends, go read it so you know what we're talking about.)

On finances: No, it doesn't work out. I lose hundreds of dollars a month on that site along with storytellingproducts.com. That's okay. Storyteller.net moves the art form forward for the future. I am planting seeds of trees under whose shade I will not sit.

There are days that I wish I could move on, add the "Former Executive Director of the National Storyteller.net Organization" to my CV...but my heart would be broken and I would be not fulfulling my mission in life. When tellers get business from our directory (and they do!) and a new audience hears storytelling, then I know I am where I belong.

On Audio: When we started, we were the only ones really doing this. We got UNBELIEVABLE grief about it, too. Long, strong-worded Emails about how this would ruin storytelling and how all these stories would be stolen. I wish I had saved those letters. So, storytellers cowered in fear, hoarding their stories while the world passed us all by and now thinks we are all just quaint little folk artists. Oh, how precious each of us are with our 900 CDs in our collective closets.

NB: Syd puts his whole catalog of audio online and the storytelling world was astounded that storytellers could do such a thing. "Have you heard of this Innerneht thingy-do?"
Okay, well, you and me first were astounded and then some 300 people at the NSN conference for at least 15 minutes. But then the wind shifted and we had to have some story-circles. "Let me tell you how my storytelling makes me feel."

On content: Yes, Storyteller.net is a "everybody in the pool" sort of project. Some brilliance. Some meh. Tons in between. I am honored to have brought so many voices into the conversation.

On cutting edge: Oh, 2008 is finally here. It's coming. Again.