I'm back!

Okay, so I'm back and this time, it's for good. When I signed the contract to find, interview and edit the life journey stories of sixteen storytellers for my book, Southern Appalacian Storytellers: Interviews with Sixteen Keepers of the Oral Tradition, it seemed as though my life was consumed by them in the two and a half years it took to accomplish the task. Oh, the joy of it! And when it was done, the experience was nearly one of grief when it went into the mail.

The day my copies arrived I was totally unprepared for them. McFarland, my publisher, gave me no warning at all. There was simply a tag note on the door telling me I had a package under the chair. That's all. I retrieved the small box that was surprisingly heavy, trying to think what I had ordered, and took it inside. The phone rang, I answered and while I spoke casually put my glasses on my nose. That's when I saw where the package was from - Jefferson, NC. My heart froze, not beating at all for a moment, then I tore into the box to find the lovely proof of the work we put into it, and I say 'we' because each storyteller reviewed their own words after my editing, and then signed off once they were satisfied with the work.

On another note: for those of you living in the Johnson City, TN area, the folks at the Downtown Day Center on Fairview are in grave need of clean, warm blankets, jackets, hats, gloves - anything to keep them toasty for the upcoming winter.

Don't forget to share with those in need for the holidays and all year round.

Saundra

Saundra Gerrell Kelley, Storyteller/writer

Hello! This is my maiden voyage into the deep waters of the 'blogesphere' and I'm excited about it. I've signed onto blogs and even used them in classwork when I was at ETSU, but one of my own????

I graduated December 15th with my masters in storytelling and since then have been hard at work to find the best ways to put my stories to work. For now, I've got gigs coming up in March and April, with more on the way. I'm also searching for the best ways to get Dot Jackson, 'Going Home' which was my capstone, into circulation. Dot wrote Refuge, a novel published by Novello Press in 2006, and it is my great honor to have had the opportunity to interview her and hear her stories.

For now, I am keeping busy with the ETSU School of Medicine and ETSU Storytelling Program grant. It's my job to interview cancer patients to collect their journey stories about the experience. It has a been a tremendously rewarding opportunity to meet these wonderful people and to hear their stories. If you want to know what it means to live fully, listen to a cancer survivor - you'll never be the same again.

My winter/Spring schedule

February 15, 2008, Relay for Life Black Tie Dinner, Elizabethton, TN

February 25, 2008, Bluff City Elementary School, Bluff City, TN

March 13, 2008, Johnson City Employees Awards Dinner, Johnson City, TN

March 22, 2008, The Green Energy Expo, Crawfordville, FL

April 19, 2008, Tennessee Dyslexia Association Annual Conference, Knoxville, TN