The skies were blue and sunny over Jonesboro, Tennessee, at the National Storytelling Festival. As the sun beat down, it wasn’t as cool as I’d hoped for October slightly north of home. After finding seats in the Creekside Tent, I left Mom to find something to wet my whistle.

My mouth felt as parched as those stalks on the Washington County Court House columns.

As in telling a story for the first time, it’s easy to get distracted at a festival. A large Cherokee Street-side tent filled with tables and friendly faces beckoned. In seconds, I was hearing about the National Storytelling Network. For a storyteller, it was as refreshing as a sip might have been from the nearby creek if I were the kind who drinks from slow running streams.

The NSN is on Facebook!

Dedicated to advancing storytelling, this membership group offers a wide assortment of enticements including resources, grants and an annual conference. As a new member I was given Flora Joy’s Storytelling Delivery Skills and Len Froyen’s Gratitude: Affirming one another through stories. Back home I receive a lengthy email that will take more than one reading to absorb informing me of benefits too numerous to list.

That whistle you hear at Jonesborough? Nope, it isn’t I. It’s a blast from the past by trains that regularly pass by Tennessee’s oldest town. But if you hook up with the NSN, it might be the nudge you need to start tooting you own story horn!