Current Projects

Field Notes

Field Notes is my Substack where I share what I'm noticing, thinking about, and making sense of in and around the world of storytelling.

It was born out of a desire to write more, along with a fear of having to edit and polish every submission until perfection. Such a thing may not exist, and I was becoming fatigued by my expectations of perfection. The "notes" in Field Notes implies something more casual, more personal, and less refined.

These include observations from documentary work (mine and others), reflections on past projects against current wisdom, thoughts on narrative and meaning-making, cool things I'm learning or picking up on that I'm still figuring out. They're also an invitation. I read every comment, and reply when I have something useful to add! I hope to see you there.

Essential Storytelling

The Claim: Everyone is a Storyteller

Essential Storytelling is a framework for restoring narrative power - the capacity to define your own experience, tell your story without permission, and resist others' reductive narratives.

It emerged from 15 years of documentary work, end-of-life doula practice, and my own journey of reclaiming narrative power after losing it to shame and extraction. It's grounded in a simple truth: the deeper we see ourselves, the more compassion we can hold for others.

The Three Parts of Essential Storytelling

Essential Storytelling has three interconnected parts. I needed to start at Part 1 to really unlock Parts 2 and 3, but I encourage people to jump in wherever they feel called. This is meant to be fun, afterall.

PART 1:  Personal / Transformative

How we work with our own stories. Reclaiming your narrative power. Becoming the narrator of your own life. Learning to see yourself with complexity and compassion - becoming a better editor of your own life.

PART 2:  Relational / Ethical

How we work with others' stories. Witnessing without extraction. Working WITH people, not ON them. Seeing people fully instead of cherry-picking their identities for story-convenience. Staying accountable to the person, not just the story.

PART 3:  The Living Storyteller Practice

My favorite part. This is where the work comes alive, and the heart of Essential Storytelling as a methodology. So let's spend a little more time here . . .

The Living Storyteller Practice

The question isn't whether you're a storyteller - the question is: What kind of storyteller are you? Where and how do you naturally tell your stories? Where do your gifts shine? Where are your storytelling playgrounds?

This is discovered by learning about and identifying Storytelling Roles - the lenses through which you may see your identities and gifts reflected. The Witness. The Guardian. The Teacher. The Jester. Likely, many others waiting to be discovered, or at least named. You might recognize yourself in one role strongly, or (more likely) you might be a combination of several.

Playgrounds are where those gifts come alive - the spaces (physical, relational, or conceptual) where you practice and use your gifts. The dinner table. The documentary set. The mentorship relationship. The stage. The family gathering. The journal. The quiet conversation after the funeral. These are spaces where you can experiment without rigid rules, where your gifts can be expressed naturally, and where you feel most comfortable.

The playground metaphor does important work: it validates that it's totally okay (and, dare I say, normal?) if you don't "crush storytelling" on stage or at fancy happy hours. Maybe your playground is elsewhere. The Guardian at the dinner table passing down family stories is as valuable as the Witness submitting their documentary to Netflix. Different roles, yes, different playgrounds, sure, but all with equal value.

When we get curious about storytelling roles and playgrounds, things get more fun. We can take ourselves as storytellers seriously, and reap the benefits of living life as meaning-makers, narrative recognizers, metaphor seekers. This helps us unlock some of the very best parts of being human.

The Foundational Theory: The Great Unknown Story

We're all living in the Great Unknown Story - the greatest mystery of all. We don't know how it ends. We don't know why we're here. We have our exits and entrances, as Shakespeare knew, but the plot remains fundamentally unknowable. It can be bananas out there.

But thinking like storytellers allows us to live this mystery more fully. When we think like storytellers, we recognize we cannot know how the story ends, but we can shape how we move through it. We find awe and wonder even in difficulty - because difficulty is part of every good story. We honor the mystery of others' stories alongside our own.

This is how humans have always engaged with existence - through story. Essential Storytelling is about learning to live more consciously in the face of mystery.