Lucky Winner

Jocile checked the winner's chart and found my name...Number 26!

Authors and businesses contributed prizes for 50 of the conference attendees

Once again, I am a lucky woman

Did you notice there was also an Ison on the chart?

We never did meet her. . . .  I wonder where she lives

I'll be done with the book soon....anyone want to be the next reader?

(The Wedding Letters    Jason Wright)

Storytelling. Day 2

Second day of the storytelling conference

in the stunningly beautiful Joseph Smith Memorial Building ---- used to be Hotel Utah

On this day we had three class choices per hour

with three tracks of emphasis

Storytellers

Bloggers

Family Historians

One speaker raised a writing question, I, too have wondered . . .

What if I run out of things to say?

Leigh Anne Wilkes, presenter, had this thought to share:

When you are writing about something you are passionate about, you do not run out of things to say.

Find your writing niche---your passion--- by asking yourself

Is there an area in my life where good things seem to happen a lot?

An area I just have a knack for?

Something I am naturally good at?

What could I teach?

What brings me joy?

What do I enjoy that feels effortless?

What am I doing when all feels just right?

What kind of books do I read all the time?

What do I do on a free day?

What do I do when I procrastinate?

(Maybe you should be doing that the rest of your life, she suggested!)

Examine the answers to such questions.....and write in that zone

I quite liked the answer she shared for herself

She said, "I have a passion for making the most of what I'm given."

What passion do your books or your interests point to?

Bonus

Leigh Anne's scarf tying demo

Storytelling. Evening One.

Checking in with Richard on our dinner break

One of the sponsors, I suppose

Help yourself to some chips

We  had a delicious dinner in The Lion House restaurant

Then hiked back to the Convention Center

through Temple Square

The evening program was

Story Slam!

Some very brave conference attendees volunteered to present

(40 placed their names in a basket, 5 were chosen)

Story Slam rules:

True personal story

5 minutes maximum

No notes or reading

Delightful listening

Leaving a story in your family = casting your shadow into the future

What is one of the favorite stories you tell or hear in your family?

= = = = = = = =

Here is another of our conference storytellers

One of her stories on Youtube:

Kim Weitkamp
A story she told at the conference:  laps

Story . . . it is everywhere

My sister, Jocile, and I had the juicy opportunity a week ago to attend a storytelling/storywriting conference in Salt Lake City, Utah :  The Power of Story @ Home 2012.

It's been a week and I haven't reported here. 
You know, after hearing beautifully crafted stories,
 I'm feeling a bit intimidated to put words to my experience. 
So sending my internal writing critic into a far country, I'll just jump in.

 Several time I had quiet thoughts:

This is such a privilege . . .  beautiful setting . . . .skilled story crafting generously shared
I am grateful

Our setting in Day One was the theater area in the Salt Lake Conference Center

 Plenty of room for the first annual Story @ Home conference

I heard there were 500-700 in attendance

When a good story is being told

I am happily suspended in the beckoning web of the teller

I am not taking a lot of notes!

So . . .  some lingering thoughts



>Sometimes we don't know the value of a moment, til it's a memory

>The combination of all our stories is the fabric of America
>We all love STORY

>STORY is already in your life

>Good story re-creates experience

>Your listener will get a glimpse of what your learned, felt

>The root of the experience is emotion

>Make them feel, laugh, cry, think, challenge their perspective

Along with encouragement to write/tell/gather our own stories

we had several professional story tellers sharing with us

Below is one presentor website

Syd Lieberman, from Chicago, shares many of his stories on this site

I want to give him full credit for such generosity

If you scroll down inside his site

you can find one of the stores he told us of his daughter

Look for "Sarah"

Syd Lieberman



And another . . . shares his stories via blogging
A dad of seven, a bishop
Some of his stories crack me up....like how he discovered how to stay awake while driving long distances
He has written about several of their home births.....totally fascinating to me, of course
His presentation to us was on how he shares his faith as his blogs
thecraigreport