Hey cHEwY gum gums!

So on Tuesday night, I performed at my first storytelling event and it was a ton of fun. One of my author pals, Wendy Fitzgerald put my name forward to be a part of Story Room AUS, where they have monthly storytelling nights in Manly. Also on the bill was another author friend, Jan Latta.

Now Jan and I probably have an advantage because oral storytelling is something we do for a living. Storytelling nights are wonderful in that everybody has a story to tell. Whether they want to share it with complete strangers is a different story altogether ha!

Storytelling is not stand up comedy. Nor is it a TED talk. However, you can still laugh and be inspired through the stories. I think the main thing is that your story needs to fit the theme of the night and be a well-rounded story. The theme of ‘turning points’ was quite broad so it meant anything could be moulded to be a turning point.

The presenters were different in their stories and styles. Some spoke about their personal struggles and a life filled tragedies. Others spoke about their love and passions. I could have tackled my story like it was a stand up routine, but there wasn’t any need. There was no pressure to make people laugh, so I decided to read out my story. For those who know me, you usually see me just make stuff up on the spot. But I had to type out my story, just to make sure it didn’t go over 10 minutes.

Karen Sander, founder of the Story Room, managed to nail the order of the night. I was on last, after an epic, loud and aggressive story about how to deal with bullying. Deep stuff. My tale about my parents seeing me do stand up comedy for the first time was the perfect way to end the night.

So yeah, have you ever been interested in doing storytelling? With podcasts in vogue now, there’s never been a better time to be one.

O.W