This was an audible listen and quite enjoyable. Margot Leitman describes how to craft and tell your own personal stories for the stage (or alternatively for business presentations, job interviews or whatever). She describes the process she follows and teaches for her own award-winning storytelling and answers questions along the way.

This book is both inspirational (everybody has a story worth telling) and down-to-earth and practical. She breaks down the elements of storytelling (i.e. good openers, authenticity, vulnerability, economy of details, sharing our personal emotional investment, etc).

My own opportunity for story-telling comes mostly through preaching and I picked up some tips about how to do this better. ( )

This is a fast and fun beginner's guide, written with positivity and such high energy that it practically reads itself. And it’s informative: how to find the stories in your life that you’re passionate about (including lots of prompts); how to develop the aspects of those stories that will be interesting to other people; and how to construct and tell the stories aloud in a way that moves your audience.

It’s inspirational for writers in general (especially of personal essays), but it's really focused on stories intended to be listened to, not read. That said, only one chapter strictly addresses performing the story. The rest is about creating/constructing the story, although some of that does deal with making it more conversational and less formal than a written story.

It’s not just for people interested in participating on the popular storytelling stages; it’s also to learn how to present your most interesting and memorable self in a job interview or business presentation, a date or wedding toast. And it's succinct enough that some sections can be re-read with each new story project, until the process becomes instinctive.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.) ( )