Let's Catch Up
Season 7, #1: Daytalking pulls out of a nosedive, does some map checkin' and more fun with friends
WELL, HOW THE HELL are you?
That’s the requisite line when meeting up with a friend for that ever-fading “we gotta catch up” moment.
Nowadays it’s “I’ll call you Tuesday,” or “Let’s grab a coffee on Saturday,” or “We need to hang out.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
As we all now know TUESDAY’S GONE WITH THE WIND.
Buh less on that and more on this: Here’s the lay of the land—Season 6, through the murky past of Nightwalking (“That Was Then, This Is Now”), we’re now into the brilliant warming sunlight of Daytalking, Season 7.
I love it.
Look, I started this foray into Season 7 knowing I wanted to do a catch up, but the global vibe was all freaky and weird and I wasn’t up for anything at all but in the end, here we go—on with the show, as they say.
Even if you spaced the meetup, I’m here. And I’m staying here, on Substack, into as many years as I can fit in, with StoryShed. Are you pissed off you didn’t get the memo? There’s a lot going on these days. Hey, I get it. To my mind, Daytalking is an attitude and a positive one at that. So let’s dig in to the first episode of the new season…
BUT WAIT.
What exactly is Daytalking? Why this and why now? Positive attitudes and mumbo-jumbo ain’t gonna cut it.
So for the benefit of the many new subscribers to StoryShed, there are three components to each publishing season:
Daytalking, delving into the mysteries of relationships and belonging; Nightwalking, involving honesty about shortcomings, failures, or setbacks; and Stargazing—probably the first love of my life, which has always seen me through and will continue to do so: curiosity.
There you go.
WHO the hell is this?
Here are three ways you could start this paragraph:
Let’s try this theory on for size…
What if this theory was correct…
I have a theory.
You might be thinking, “The last bullet sounds more direct. I think I like it better!”
Well, you might be someone I consider the common “unreflective narcissist.” That is, your thinking revolves around the first word that comes to mind: “I.” “I think…” “I feel…” “It seems to me…”
Of course it does, because you’re the only frame of reference. Now, what if you started to write that ’graph with the words “I” or “me” but recast it differently, to tell a story or include your imagined reader? How would that affect the outcome?
For new subscribers to StoryShed, a brief bio: Lots of small jobs until I left a corporate copyediting job in 1991 to freelance for five years and finish my undergraduate degree (a B.A. in English and American Literature with a focus on the work of Virginia Woolf) whereupon I landed my first career-launching job: New Titles Book Editor for a mid-size publishing company in St. Paul, Minn. From there I rose to Senior Editor for a legal publisher, then again Managing Editor for a national legal magazine (now defunct, for the most part). In between all that I kept learning; a passion for music and movies led to volunteer work for a local arts non-profit (still extant), signing with my first literary agent, and a very brief stint in L.A. as a spec screenwriter. Two and a half scripts later, I came back to Minnesota (where I still live) to teach screenwriting to adults at another local arts non-profit, which I did for nearly a decade. I still write, but more non-fiction and memoir now, essays, the occasional story or poem, and thought to promote a spec TV series that’s been rattling around in my head for over ten years, but that’s been tabled (see more below).1
You see, some writing you can do on your own; collaborative work—like in film and television—is nearly impossible without a team getting your back.
I don’t have that team.
Getting us up to NOW, what led me to Substack, here is a five-part series of newsletters that would quickly get you up to speed, starting with this one:
For those not ready to dive into that, the next question is…
So WHAT?
I LOVE questions like this!
Indeed, so what. Where are you going with this Substack?
If you’d have asked me two months ago, I would be at a loss. Since StoryShed switched over to seasonal publishing, it’s been better. WAY BETTER. And, just last month, I’ve nudged the edit slate ahead so this kickoff to Season 7 means I’ve got two more in-depth dives on the topic of Daytalking (one on Listening, the other on Playfulness) and an interview about relationships, which is the core of Daytalking.
I am stoked for this forthcoming Season 7!
For Season 8: Stargazing I’m busting my britches over the concept, even started into drafting it since it was a revitalized project from 2021 and *sigh* might will see the light of day. What is it about? If you love art, history, culture and literature, there’s a good chance you’ll dig it.
Stay tuned for more on Season 8, and please consider a free subscription if you’re not already a subscriber.
WHERE you at?
You? I’d be curious to know.
On WordPress I had readers from around the world. Here, it’s a mixed bag but a whip-smart crew.
Me? I’m in Minneapolis, Minnesota. South Minneapolis to be more precise, formerly of St. Paul, formerly of Hopkins, Minnesota, formerly of Minnetrista, Minnesota, and way back to Lake Minnetonka where drugs are sold and lives are wasted on formerly beautiful natural surroundings. Why was I there? My late parents raised me in that place. I went to the city because I was really, truly, always a city kid at heart.
I’d love to know where StoryShed’s readers are hailing from.
Let us know in the comments!
WHEN will we get there?
Because Season 7 and 8 are shaping up so quickly, a lot sooner than previously expected, I’m loathe to announce exact publish dates, but newsletters over the past six seasons have had a lag time of about two weeks, so it’s not like we’re flooding inboxes over here.
If you don’t think StoryShed is for you, please feel free to unsubscribe.
If you like what you see, thank you for sticking around!
WHY bother?
Well, sure. Why do anything?
Substack has made it easier for StoryShed to grow an audience—more than anything I experienced on other social media and the years I wrote for Medium. Readers are more engaged with the newsletters, and it’s freeing to work on long-form essays and stories and join other creators for collaboration projects.
For example, just this past summer
and I started the Curious George Questionnaire and we’re having a blast doing it. It feeds the need to learn more about this creative community and we’d urge others to try that route too (as some have definitely done!)…
Previously
and I did a collaboration on romance movies and that too was fun to write and work on together.Subscribe to Beth’s Substack below!
Next weekend, StoryShed dips into five films (with a winter theme) by Ingmar Bergman. I threw the idea out as a dark joke, but
chimed back, “It sounds grand!” (Or something like that.)We’ll see how that goes but already people are showing interest—always a good sign for happier days ahead.
So, the rationale is solid: Not a bother AT ALL.
Exciting stuff!
If you feel the urge, StoryShed now takes donations.
Buy me a coffee (Mmmmmm … hot coffee!), or send StoryShed a donation via Venmo.
And thank you for reading and subscribing.
See you next time!
Notes and Extra Texture
The Guy Stevens Weather Report Substack was supposed to be an adjunct project to a spec TV drama series titled Guy about Island Records producer Guy Stevens and his journey from nightclub DJ to A&R man to producer to band creator and general 1960s cultural Renaissance man. A pilot script was started with a story about the 15-year old Guy attending his first concert—Jerry Lee Lewis in 1957. When I learned no one would know our protagonist from that age, I moved to story up to 1969 (about halfway through the overarching narrative) and still haven’t fleshed out the new angle. Maybe that will happen, but taking the pressure off for now. The fun thing was I got to write about music and start a laugh-riot of a podcast with Minneapolis DJ Simon Husbands, which we called B(e)Sides. I’ve now taken down the paywall for the GSWR and all the articles are free to Substack readers, as well as the podcasts. Enjoy!
“Thank You Friends” Big Star (Recorded 1974, released 1978) <3
i've read your substack a few times so i thought: time to say hi. i am from buffalo ny , currently livinvg in ithaca ny, but lived in shoreview mn in the 90's. one finger typing because of an injury. pat
I am reporting from Athens, Greece. Still here :)