The storyworthy Learning Zone

A simple but effective tip for you:

When appropriate, include the season in your story. I LOVE words that come affixed to a kabillion adjectives because I don’t love adjectives in general.

In my nov...

I had just settled into my seat, preparing for the second leg of my flight from Hartford to Victoria, British Columbia, when the pilot emerged from the cockpit and introduced himself to us. He told us...

I have been listening to many commencement addresses over the past two weeks, and I've been a listener of commencement addresses for a long time.

NPR's The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever, with more...

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 Facebook because I...

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 as a member...

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 fi...

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 other things...

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 befor...

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 but not t...

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 deliver...

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 after...