The storyworthy Learning Zone

This is a long one, but it’s also an important one, so please bear with me.

Someone recently described me online as "a profoundly unpleasant person.”

He wrote:

“I friended him on...

Hello storytellers and friends,

Happy spring!

Or fall if you’re a friend in the southern hemisphere.

It’s been a busy and fun time at our home these past few weeks, with Charlie working...

I competed at a Moth StorySLAM in Boston earlier this week.

Finished in second place. Lost by a tenth of a point to the storyteller who went last.

So annoying.

Sadly, I remember the second-place...

Hello storytellers and friends,

A lesson learned on a recent trip to Orville, Ohio, where I did some storytelling consulting with Smuker’s, the makers of jam, Jif peanut butter, and many...

Here's a bit of lunacy:

I was working with a storyteller who will be performing onstage next month. She's nervous. The audience will be sizable, and she's never performed in a setting like this...

A storyteller recently asked me for a specific strategy to build suspense in a story.

My answer (and thus my definition of suspense) was simple:

Don’t say everything. Say some of the thing...

The best strategies for delivering a talk from the stage. I also include lessons I have used to help others craft, prepare, rehearse, and deliver their talks. These lessons will empower you to...

Back in the spring of 2016, five years into my storytelling career, I won a Moth GrandSLAM championship in Somerville, MA.

I told the story of my decision to confess to a crime I did not commit...

I often say that everyone should learn to tell a better story for lots and lots of reasons.

My TEDx Talk - What Is a Story? ( Watch it here) - offers five of those reasons.

Storytelling can enrich...

I spotted this sign at the wedding of my former student, sitting atop the bar.

I love it so much.

Designed by the same couple who advised guests to respond to their wedding invitation by a certain...

I like to think that I have been a supportive and positive force on the thousands of storytellers who I have performed alongside over the years, but I've also had moments when my judgment and...