Gatlinburg preview

Yesterday, my good friend and neighbor, fellow storyteller Marjorie Shaefer and I drove down to Pigeon Forge, and then on to Gatlinburg, to check things out before the national storytelling conference. We will be staying at a friend's campground in Pigeon Forge and as we approached, I wondered at the wisdom of it. Lanes of traffic six deep were jammed with cars and trucks - folks enjoying the last days of summer- and all of them anxious to get off the road. When we finally cleared the frenetic angst of PF, we drove into the Smokies and that's when the peace began to settle in. We both felt it as we drove around those verdant curves and when we finally reached Gatlinburg and had to slow down again, it was ok.

Storytelling is going great, but the search for a day job continues - Johnson City maybe a thriving economic center, but real jobs, ones that pay more than minimum wage are hard to find. I'm thinking of querying the newspaper to interview others in the area and write about the experience, although I think I probably have enough to write about with Riding the Clouds.

Post it again, Saundra!

I just learned a big lesson in the world of blog posting: write it and save it because if you don't, it goes away.

It has been a trying time for the past several weeks. I'm still in negotiation with a publisher for my book Riding the Clouds, the life stories of our beloved Appalachian Storytellers, still working half-time with the Johnson City Parks and Recreation and plugging in the holes telling stories every chance I get.

My visit with the WaysMeet folks in Berea, Kentucky was all I wanted it to be. For me, with the awakening of interest in all things Appalachian, the trip to Berea was a pilgrimage, but it is one I wish had been of longer duration. The drive was incredibly beautiful, taking me through parts of mountain country I had not seen before. The group I met with was composed mostly of students, which suited me just fine even though I was expecting older folks. The talk changed in response to what I felt coming from them, and I loved the thoughtful expressions I saw on their faces. My hope is they will be willing to 'ride the clouds' themselves, lifting off the ground to taste adventure and live their dreams.

My new postcard brochures and business cards came in and I'm having a blast sending them out. If you read this post and can think of some places a teller of my sort would be appreciated, make a comment - it would be appreciated. I bartered for a brief video clip of my stories and I'm going to put that on YouTube next. After that, the web site . . .

A Belated Report

OK, folks, I promise to get better at this blog thing and regret not writing as often as I should. Now that I finally have my postcards printed and new business cards to distribute, I hope to hear from more writers with ideas and commentary.

My visit to Berea, Kentucky was all that I hoped it would be. I was there to address the WaysMeet group at the invitation of playwright, Trish Ayers. The group composition came as a surprise to me: they were mostly students with a sprinkling of more mature faces; I was expecting just the opposite, but I had big competition that night - storyteller and writer, Jim Ed Wheeler, was in town, too! They were, however, interested in what I had to say and the presentation took a different turn in response to the needs that I sensed coming from them. That night I stayed at the lovely home of writer Mary Owens and left early to drive down to Hot Springs, North Carolina to see and hear ballad singer Betty Smith at the annual Hot Springs Music Festival.