This post is the annual update of my writing career.

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw

Big Stories of 2023:

My friend Jenny survived her two-year medical crisis thanks to a miracle surgery at Mayo Clinic on March 1, 2023. My last five blog posts chronicle that journey. It marks the end of three years in which I served as caregiver for the dying.

What a sweet end to those terrible years. My mother died, my brother died, but Jenny lived. In April 2023, when she was finally able to go home, I felt free to get back to my life. She is still recovering. There are residual complications in the form of retaining water in her lungs and chest from not being able to absorb enough protein. They found a heart condition that had been lurking unnoticed since 2017. But all of that is being managed and it’s a long way from the nightmare she was living before surgery.

Loren Niemi and I signed a lease for the brick and mortar location of the American School of Storytelling at 1762 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN on June 1. We opened our doors on August 18, 2023. This is a big leap for the business we started online in 2021.

I transferred all that caregiving time and energy into the American School of Storytelling. It’s not a bad gig to stand in the back and see every show and workshop for free. But it was an unrelenting schedule and I found I was not able to enjoy events as much as I hoped because they ran up against other obligations. I like to savor experiences but was often tired from work and travel. Still, I’d do it again. I will do it again. We start our 2024 run tomorrow.

Between and because of these two events, I was on the road 91 days… I was physically traveling cross-country or away from home some portion of the day for three full months of 2023. That isn’t to say I didn’t get to have some fun and vacation time… Mexico, Colorado, Chicago…

I work a lot but I know how lucky I am that I have a life that allows me to cram all this stuff into it.

Writing

I do not participate in the business end of writing very much. Writing and publishing are two different activities and I generally make time for only one. Like most writers, I am unknown in the company of the obscure. Still, sometimes I get lucky and I get asked to read some poems.

• 4/12: We hosted a National Poetry Month reading as part of the American School of Storytelling residency at The Briar cafe in NE. Some of my ‘poetry girl gang’ (as Loren calls us) read with me there. Thank you for sharing your poetry Wendy Brown-Baez, Sarah Degner Riveros, and Diane Pecoraro!
• 5/2: I got the honor of accompanying Janna Knittel to the Minnesota Book Awards, where their poetry collection Real Work (Nodin, 2022) was a finalist. It was my first time attending the award ceremony and it was exciting to see so many Minnesota authors in one room together.
• 5/3: We hosted Jules Nyquist & John Roche of ‘Jules’ Poetry Playhouse’ in Placitas, New Mexico for their Minnesota launch of the 2021 NM/AZ Book Award winner, ‘Atomic Paradise’. This was also part of the American School of Storytelling residency at the Briar Cafe NE. Loren and I read some poems too. Thank you for coming north and sharing your work, Jules & John!
• 6/19-6/25: I was in Bemidji, MN for the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference, taking the ‘Memoir to Fiction Workshop’ with author Diane Wilson. If you are a writer and have not yet attended this conference, it is so worth your time. To be swept away from normal life and do nothing but live creation and craft for a week reignites the passion for the art. I met some new writing friends too.
• 7/20: Cracked Walnut (chapter of the League of Minnesota Poets) asked us to curate a reading for their ‘Blank Verse’ series at the Anoka Library, which included Janna Knittel, Loren Niemi, Diego Vazquez Jr, and me. I felt very lucky to be reading with such accomplished writers and performers.
• 10/23: Cracked Walnut again asked us to host one of the ‘Cracked Walnut Literary Festival’ events- “Don’t Go There”, an evening of risky & dislocating poetry. Loren hosted the featured readers which included poets Hal Madderom, Peter Stein, ​Micah Ruelle, Howard Lieberman, & Diane Pecoraro. I hosted the open mic and took the liberty to open it with my poetry. It served as the kick-off for our American School of Storytelling ongoing monthly poetry open mic which you can be part of as audience or participant, every 4th Monday of the month.
• 11/3-11/5: I attended the League of Minnesota Poets fall poetry conference. If you are a poet in Minnesota, this is a fabulous organization to get involved with. They have annual contests, retreats and conferences with workshops on craft. And they are a lot of fun!

American School of Storytelling (AMSStory)

2023 was a big year for our courageous little start-up. We signed a lease in June, built the 8×8 stage in July, and opened the door in August. But we’ve been doing online classes since 2021, in person shows since 2022 at The Briar cafe, and of course, Loren continues to travel to perform and teach as he has done for the last 45 years.

Here’s a list of our appearances, classes, and events, at our location and in the world:

• 1/5-2/2 Diving Into the Dark, taught by Laura Packer
• 1/6 Some Black Storm at Phoenix Theater Minneapolis, MN; Loren Niemi performance
• 1/10-01/31 Building Your Fringe Show, taught by Loren Niemi
• 1/11 @ The Briar-Taxi Stories, with Hardy Coleman, Scott Vetsch, and Loren Niemi
• 2/8 @ The Briar with Richard Rosseau
• 2/9-2/23 Introduction to Storytelling, taught by Loren Niemi
• 3/8 @ The Briar with Sue Searing
• 3/9-3/12 Texas Storytelling Festival in Denton, TX; Loren Niemi performance
• 3/16-3/30 Breathing Life into Fairy Tales, taught by Cooper Braun-Enos
• 3/17-3/18 Difficult Stories Workshop in Atlanta, GA; taught by Elizabeth Ellis and Loren Niemi
• 3/24-3/26 Sharing the Fire Conference in Portsmouth, NH; workshop taught by Loren Niemi
• 3/29 @ The Briar- Poetry Readings as Performance, taught by Loren Niemi
• 4/4-4/18 Intermediate Storytelling, taught by Loren Niemi
• 4/12 @ The Briar- National Poetry Month, with poets Wendy Brown-Baez, Sarah Degner Riveros, Diane Pecoraro, and Christine Mounts.
• 4/20-4/23 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival in Woodruff, SC; Loren Niemi performance
• 4/29 StoryFest 2023: Shared Stories, Shared World, in Bloomington, MN; we hosted a table.
• 5/3 @ The Briar- Jules Nyquist & John Roche, with poets Jules Nyquist, John Roche, Loren Niemi, and Christine Mounts
• 5/5-5/14 Toronto International Storytelling Festival, Loren Niemi performance
• 5/16 Uses of Storytelling in Community Building and Social Change, taught by Loren Niemi
• 5/19 @ The Briar- Art-A-Whirl, with stories by Loren Niemi, Sue Searing, and Howard Lieberman and music by Jordy Vaughn
• 5/23 Story Circles, taught by Loren Niemi
• 5/30 The Fact and Practice of Oral History, taught by Loren Niemi
• 6/6 Message Framing, taught by Loren Niemi
• 6/13 Effective Testimony and Presentations, taught by Loren Niemi
• 7/10-7/11 Storytelling Summer Camp: Trickster Tales, taught by Loren Niemi
• 7/20 A Poetic Quartet For the Blank Verse Reading Series, with poets Janna Knittel, Christine Mounts, Loren Niemi and Diego Vazquez Jr.
• 8/1 Bemidji Story Slam; Loren Niemi performance
• 8/15 Storytelling Summer Camp: Ghost Stories – Zoom, taught by Loren Niemi
• 8/18 First Night, grand opening of the American School of Storytelling, with performances by storyteller Laura Packer, poet Sarah Degner Riveros, singer Monica Cortes, poet Clarence White, and storyteller Jim Stowell.
• 8/19 Storytelling Summer Camp: Ghost Stories – In-Person, taught by Loren Niemi
• 8/26 Doctor Buzz’s State Fair Odyssey 2023; tour by Loren Niemi
• 8/30 “Family Stories”, with Robin Bady
• 8/31 Tandem Telling, with stories by Loren Niemi and Howard Lieberman
• 9/9 Neighborhood Super Sale; we hosted a table for our books
• 9/9 “Rio Bravo / Rio Grande Part 1”, with Jim Stowell
• 9/14 “Uncle Olaus Survives the Titanic”, with Pam Faro
• 9/23 Eulogies and Funeral Orations Workshop, taught by Loren Niemi
• 9/29 Circus Rex Book Launch for Loren Niemi
• 10/5-10/8 National Storytelling Festival; Exchange Place, Loren Niemi performance
• 10/14 2023 Twin Cities Book Festival; we hosted a table for our books
• 10/14 Artists Standing Strong Together– Adults ONLY Stories!; Loren Niemi performance
• 10/16 Storytelling- Open Mic Mondays
• 10/20 From Story to Stage: Puppetry and Object Work, taught by Loren Niemi at Guthrie Theater
• 10/21 Cheap Theatre: Exception; Loren Niemi performance
• 10/23 ‘Don’t Go There’ Poetry Reading, with poets Hal Madderom, Peter Stein, ​Micah Ruelle, Howard Lieberman, & Diane Pecoraro
• 10/27 LiveTV’s Halloween Ghost Story Open Mic Bonfire; Loren Niemi performance
• 10/28 Environmental Story Workshop: Stories for Climate Change, taught by Bowen Lee
• 10/28 “Hope is an Action Word”, with Bowen Lee
• 11/2-11/16 From Memory to Memoir Workshop, taught by Regi Carpenter
• 11/11 “Rio Bravo / Rio Grande Part 2”, with Jim Stowell
• 11/14-12/5 Story Beads Workshop, taught by Debra Ting
• 11/15 Poets & Pints #102, guest host duties by Loren Niemi and Christine Mounts
• 11/18 2023 Twin Cities Tellabration!, with storytellers Danielle Daniel, Stacy Parish, Roya Taylor, Trần Thị Minh Phước, Trần Huyền, Leif Wallin, and emcee Howard Lieberman
• 11/20 Storytelling- Open Mic Mondays
• 11/27 Poetry- Open Mic Mondays
• 12/7 Expand Your Story- Online, taught by Loren Niemi
• 12/9 Expand Your Story- In Person, taught by Loren Niemi
• 12/12 Circus Rex Reading at Eat My Words for Loren Niemi
• 12/18 Storytelling- Open Mic Mondays
• 12/19 Welcoming a Darker Night, stories, poems, and songs from Ralph & Jaana Tuttila, Lynette Reini-Grandell, and Loren Niemi

Travel

I was on the road 91 days… did I mention I have a full-time career in IT? On nights and weekends, with vacation time and unpaid leave, I spent one month in Rochester, MN as a caregiver, one month in service to storytelling or writing, and one month just for fun. After COVID and three years helping the dying, I ran away…

• 12/29/22-1/6/23 Tulum, Mexico
• 1/11-1/12 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 2/27-3/12 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN for Jenny’s surgery
• 3/16-3/17 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 3/18-3/19 Chicago, IL
• 3/24-3/26 Sharing the Fire Conference, Portsmouth, NH
• 4/1-4/2 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 4/6-4/9 Grand Junction, CO
• 4/10 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN to bring Jenny home
• 4/15 Wild Irish Tales with Clare Murphy, Winona, MN
• 4/19-4/24 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival, Woodruff, SC
• 5/8-5/9 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 6/10-6/11 Hibbing, MN
• 6/19-6/25 Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference, Bemidji, MN
• 7/13-7/14 Milwaukee, WI
• 7/17-7/18 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 7/22-7/30 RAGBRAI L, Sioux City to Davenport, IA
• 8/1-8/2 Bemidji, MN
• 8/9 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 8/27 Red Wing, MN
• 9/1 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 9/5 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 9/13-9/17 Chicago, IL
• 10/4-10/9 National Storytelling Festival, Jonesborough, TN
• 10/13 Sandbar Storytelling Festival, Winona, MN
• 10/21 Winona, MN
• 12/3-12/4 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
• 12/27-12/30 Peoria, IL

The Future

In the future, look for me to be part of the Mid-Stream Reading Series on February 8, 2024. I’ll be at the front desk of the American School of Storytelling for our exciting 2024 line-up. And I’m working on book length creative non-fiction more than any other writing these days. Stay tuned.

–Copyright C.M. Mounts, January 2024