I'm still very short on storytelling opportunities.

Bingo-- there's your trouble. Your thought about more volunteer opportunities is spot on--- senior centers, community events, churches, those are all good-- but take ANY opportunity to talk with people and slip in a short story. Out to lunch with a few friends? Tell them a story. Chatting on the phone? Tell a story. Have a party, and don't tell them that there will be stories, but take the floor at some point and tell a few.

And don't ask first-- just go ahead and capture the moment.

Tell stories in your sleep. Tell them to yourself when driving around. Just tell them and tell them, until they roll off your tongue. Tell them in the mirror, tell them in the shower, tell them at bus stops. Don't worry about being nice about it or about plesing people.... disappear into the story.

Watch videos of good stand-up comedians. Hear where they put the punchline, how they mug, how they set up the empathy before they get to the meat of the story. These people have gone over and over their material until it really "sings," eliminating all the glitches or awkward phrasing that impede the delivery of the point of the joke or story. You can do the same with preachers and their sermons. Hate church? Sermons on the radio.

Just ideas-- but don't stop and don't worry about pleasing anybody listening to you. The story is bigger than them! And, when you're telling, so are you.

~Susan