Dream storytelling.
“Yeah! We’re back to dream storytelling hour!”
I had just announced the release of episode 276, The Dream Show, and Jane S’s super-enthusiastic response to my Instagram post made me smile. I must admit, I felt much the same. After a ten month break from having guests on the show, it was an absolute delight to don the headphones, switch on the podcasting mic, and jump into a mystery dream with a mystery guest.
Why the break? I needed to clear some space this year for a side project – writing my first fiction book – so I pre-recorded ten episodes of me narrating my 2020 non-fiction book, Bird of Paradise, which is both a whimsical memoir and an inspirational guide to finding your calling and navigating your life using dreams, mysteries, and alchemy. I enjoyed the feedback to the narrated podcasts: people telling me that although they had read the book, listening to it added new dimensions and highlights.
The side project took far more of my attention than I had imagined. The story danced onto the pages, pirouetted, twisted, turned, took on a life of its own, and had me wondering, by the time I wrote the final words, what the characters might do next. Whimsy seems to be my style, and what I originally envisaged as a quirky story became more so. When I submitted it for professional manuscript appraisal I learned that it’s UpLit in genre, probably no surprise at all to those of you who know me personally or through my work. I revelled in the storytelling year, and my next task is to find a publisher. And to get back into the podcast seat to explore our guests’ dreams and continue to build this resource for you.
Mystery guest and mystery dream?
When people volunteer to be a guest on The Dream Show, all I know is their name, where they live, and whatever they choose to tell me when they type their 2-3 sentences into the introduction form. I know nothing about their dream until we start recording. We don’t edit the recording: you hear it exactly as it happens, and if it’s all a mystery at the start of the show, much is revealed by the end. You come to know the dreamer through their dream as we explore and interpret it, relating it to what’s happening in their life, revealing insight into their inner world, and fresh perspective into their outer world.
Yes, Jane S got it right: Dream storytelling hour describes it exactly.
