Shadow Puppet Storyteller

New career paths

Read below my (favorite dialogue) privacy hedge for the epiphany which I feel I can't just blurt out to start an entry. We'll call it a new hobby that came to me tonight:

Best line from Tin Man (2007)
"You know you really should do something about that BITTER cynicism of yours Cain."

Cain:
"Why? Someones gotta keep your wide eyed optimism in check."


This is what I see on the business card:
On-demand storyteller; in-person...via Readeo...or recording...

Ten years ago, on the cusp of a major move from one community to another, I was briefly mentored by a professional storyteller. Now, I find myself thinking about the possibilities in a new world of how to entertain in this form...Since Christmas 2010, I have been marveling at "new" technology and how I might use it to make a living doing something as lovely as storytelling. I was first inspired by Franklin's Anybook Reader http://www.franklin.com/estore/dictionary/drp-3000/, Hallmark's Recordable Storybook http://www.hallmark.com/online/in-stores/recordable-storybooks/, and just recently, I read about Readeo, an on-line platform for face-to-face reading, called BookChat http://www.readeobookchat.com/. The devices are secondary to what is mine to do as the performer, but I am fired-up thinking that they provide a completely altered avenue, in which you are not trying to gather an audience to you. Record it, and you become portable to your customer. Or, on-line, be available to anyone anywhere at anytime on-line -- and without any use of a car to transport you or the audience.

I have frequently cycled back to my interest in storytelling -- I've never been at all enamored of solely performing my own stories. I see that for some reason the interest peaks when I am actively planning a move. I do not think it has to do with the shock of packing books -- I haven't started that here, just yet. But I do accept that I like to read and hear the written word performed. It is no coincidence that I love movies that are derived from classic literature. I love singer-songwriters. I love guided meditation, and I love crafting the experience of guided meditation for others.

My spouse has always railed against being "on-call," but it has never bothered me. I may be over-estimating the demand, but wouldn't it be cool at least to say, "I'm on-call to read to Charlie Sheen's twins"?