Bear with me a little before we get to that …

 

It’s Monday morning

The festival is over, and the camping vans are leaving the site. Tracey Collins and want to have some breakfast together before we part. ((I’ll tell you more about Tracey and her engagement in storytelling in the post after next.) While we’re having breakfast Tracey changes her mind. She will not go home straight but pay Amy Douglas a visit first. Don’t I want to come? What a question!

Amy’s table is full with food and people

She and her family just returned from the festival themselves. Then there is also a friend of theirs – Tom (having been to the festival, too) and Juliana Marin – a young storyteller from Columbia – with her partner. Those two are currently telling themselves around the world.

To be honest, I myself am still a bit dizzy from the festival. But at this table there is still or again a lot of talking about the stories and the myths we all heard. These guys have stories flowing through their veins.
Amy lives for stories and their telling. That’s one reason why she hosts many tellers travelling through her area.

Then Mike arrives

He looks a few days older the rest of us. He wants to pick up Juliana for an evening of storytelling. Don’t I want to come, too? I could park in his garden for the night. Perfect!
Mike is organising the ‘Spoken Word Club’ in Shropshire. Once a month people are gathering to sing and play music, to tell tales and read poems, to share a drink and a chat. What a wonderful idea!

During the evening I realise that I am hosted by Mike Rust

He’s a longtime pillar of this storytelling scene. He himself tells stories since he is twenty. He co-founded and co-managed the storytelling festival ‘Festival At The Edge’ (FATE) till they got up to 1,500 visitors.
On this very chair I am now sitting on enjoying a lovely tea fixed by Mike’s wife Lynn hundreds of storytellers from all over the world have already been sitting. That’s a bit humbling …
Another live dedicated to storytelling.

 

So, what is a storyteller without a spouse

According to Mike Rust it is a Mythos.
No storyteller – no matter who famous and popular – can live on storytelling alone. Everyone has an additional income: A spouse, a heritage, another job (if time allows).
This is not very encouraging …

 

P.S. Attending the ‘Spoken Word Club’ was my first chance to tell in story in English. Everyone there is still alive and well. 😀