Done! My Little Storytelling Print Shop

"I'll be mailing you an invoice next week," the email said. "Great," I thought. "She'll probably want a few CDs and maybe some books." The gig, a performance for Title I families, promises to be a lot of fun, with interactive stories and an informal, sharing atmoshpere. I thought the lady arranging the program planned to have copies of my materials there for use by the parents, perhaps, at a later time.

The invoice arrived Monday, just over a week before the performance: it was for 60 copies of Zinnia Tales, 60 copies of Homeplace:Poems from the Mountains, and 60 copies of my CD, Mountain Story, Mountain Song. Did I have all that on hand? Of course not.

I've been working on it ever since the invoice arrived. And tonight, the order is ready. The new laser printer made it much easier, and I discovered that the shrinkwrapping is more successful if I use a hair dryer instead of the heat gun provided with the impulse sealer. Live and learn.

Now I can concentrate on the stories I'll tell for this audience. The goal is to encourage them to tell stories with their children, so I know I will be telling Centreville, a story from my childhood. I want to include them in some of the stories, too, so perhaps I will bring the clip-on animal tails and have them take parts in the story of Ungawalema. A Jack Tale will have to be included too, because we're in his homeplace, after all--perhaps Jack and Strongman? That's usually a favorite. Sody Sallyratus is another good choice for audience particpation, and we'll sing the Kettle Song for silliness and to warm up my voice. What else? Tomorrow I'll decide the rest of the program.

That same day I'll also be telling stories to 5th-8th grade students in Wirt County. It will be a full day, certainly. The story choices for this group will be a sampling of the various kinds of stories people tell in the mountains--tall tales, family stories, historical tales, ghost stories, ballads, and traditional folktales.

For now, it's bedtime. Daylight Savings Time is here early, and I'm up late!