Projects

• 2019-01-14

  More Better NarraFirma

  NarraFirma has been getting some attention lately. I received development commissions from several NarraFirma users, so I’ve been working on the software since early November, and I’ve bundled together all the things people wanted into a new version, 1.2.0. The blog post on the NarraFirma web site goes into great detail about all the new Read more

• 2018-08-09

  Works in progress

  This is not a here’s-something-to-think-about blog post; it’s a why-hasn’t-she-been-posting-anything blog post. Just so you know going in. Store-bought stories (yes, still) In between other things, I’ve been working towards finishing the book of essays I started writing almost ten years ago about how we don’t tell everyday stories as much as we used to. Read more

• 2018-03-07

  Stories, narratives, and hasty generalizations

  This blog post has been moved to (and revised for) The Working with Stories Miscellany. You can find it in Chapter 16. Read more

• 2018-02-13

  Narratopia in Dutch!

  Narratopia is now available in Dutch, in both boxed (ready to play) and print-and-play versions. The game was translated by Annemijn van Garderen with help from her dad, Harold. Many thanks to both of them for making it happen. If you are interested in helping me translate Narratopia to a language you know well, send Read more

• 2018-01-12

  Here I am talking about NarraFirma

  I finally managed to update the NarraFirma introduction video. I’m sure I’ll hate it in a year’s time, but for now, this is as good as it’s going to get. If you have any questions about NarraFirma, be sure to send them along. Read more

• 2017-12-08

  NarraFirma 1.0

  I am finally ready to announce the release of NarraFirma 1.0. I’ve been working on it since the summer. I was able to give the software a nice solid overhaul in functionality and usability. The blog post on the NarraFirma web site describes the changes in detail. I’ll summarize just a few of the major Read more

• 2017-05-19

  Presentations, podcasts, plans

  I’m cleaning my office again, so it’s time to catch you up on some presentations and podcasts I’ve been doing lately (outside of conferences). Last June I spoke at my very own local historical society on “Stories in your Family or Community.” In November I was interviewed by Bob Cudmore in his The Historians series Read more

• 2017-05-12

  Narratopia Revisited

  Guess what? I’ve been working on Narratopia again. In case you don’t know: Narratopia is a game of conversational story sharing for 3-6 people. You build a web of connected stories about anything you like. You go on a journey of discovery by exploring experiences and connections. The game helps out by giving you ideas Read more

• 2017-03-06

  Conference report, part five: NYSDRA and childhood trauma

  This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). Now I’ll finish the series with an account of some other meetings and conferences I attended and talk about what’s coming next. (Actually, this post was supposed to complete the series, but it turns out I will Read more

• 2017-02-01

  Conference report, part four: Cross method mapping

  This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about two conferences I attended this fall (NCDD and NYSDRA). Now I’ll talk about Cross method mapping with the Group Works cards. As some will remember, I first started thinking about a way to connect the hundreds of methods and approaches that surround the practice Read more

• 2016-08-05

  The neverending story of personal storytelling (part one)

  This essay is in three parts, of which this blog post is the first. Click these links for parts two and three. I’ve been waiting a long time to write this essay. I thought of it four or five years ago when I was writing a series of posts about natural storytelling. I never wrote Read more

• 2016-08-05

  The neverending story of personal storytelling (part two)

  This essay is in three parts, of which this blog post is the second. Click these links for parts one and three. What The Neverending Story tells us about personal storytelling Now that we’ve worked our way through all the elements of The Neverending Story, I think we are ready to explore what the book Read more

• 2016-08-05

  The neverending story of personal storytelling (part three)

  This essay is in three parts, of which this blog post is the third. Click these links for parts one and two. What Mr. Coreander’s choices tell us about personal storytelling I said above that I was going to work my way through the significant choices made by each of six functional characters in The Read more

• 2016-04-15

  Progress on NarraFirma

  Hey folks. I wonder if people might have wondered what happened to NarraFirma. Here’s an update. After the software’s initial release last October, we found ourselves pretty busy for a while. My husband got busy looking for a job, and now he’s hard at work keeping the job he found. I experienced an uptick both Read more

• 2016-03-10

  A Connection Language: Dialogue, Methods, Collaboration

  A few of you might remember that when I posted my observations from the NCDD conference in October 2014, I mentioned the idea of a “connection language” to interpolate between different dialogue methods. I’ve been playing with that idea ever since. I’ve told about a dozen people about it and gathered feedback. Based on that, Read more

• 2016-02-03

  Course developments

  I have succeeded. My original design for the possible on-line PNI course I talked about a few months ago now looks unbearably stupid. Progress! And how are you? Well, I hope. So what happened was, just as I was working on that blog post in December, I was approached by a Ph.D. student who wanted Read more

• 2015-12-17

  What if I gave a PNI course?

  Now that NarraFirma is out there and usable, there’s an idea for a next step that I’ve been playing with in my mind. I don’t know whether it would work. I don’t know if I should put any more time into it. So I’m asking you. What if I gave a course in doing PNI? Read more

• 2015-11-27

  Back to Narratopia

  Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I’m thankful today that I can announce the initial public release of Narratopia, the conversational story game. You can buy a copy at thegamecrafter.com. Now I’ll tell those who are interested what has been happening with Narratopia over the past several months. As you might remember, I introduced an early version Read more

• 2015-10-13

  We have made NarraFirma

  We went now away with a fair wind for Brazil; and in about twelve days’ time we made land….  We kept on S. by E., in sight of the shore . . . and in three days came to an anchor off the bay of All Saints, the old place of my deliverance, from whence Read more

• 2015-06-24

  250 and thanks

  Hey everybody. I wanted to tell you that I’ve sold 250 copies of Working with Stories. Hooray! I’ve been thinking of 250 as a significant number for years, mostly because my husband told me he’d read somewhere that the average non-fiction book sells 250 copies in its lifetime. When I told him about this the Read more