The combination of Hanukah and an injury (happily not too serious) to our son's foot has made it impossible to record a new episode for you this week, so please enjoy this rebroadcast of one of our most popular episodes ever. Elysha and I will be back next week with a brand new episode.  Happy Hanukah to all of our Jewish listeners!  _____________________________________ On episode #4 of Speak Up Storytelling, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! We talk about about finding excellent stories in your everyday life using my strategy "Homework for Life" and the importance of transformation in storytelling.  Then we listen to Sam Carley's story about a challenging bus ride through an Indian desert with the possible girl of his dreams, followed by commentary and critique, including: The ideal arc of a story Describing human beings in stories Limiting unnecessary description Advancing time in a story Next, we answer listener questions and offer recommendations.   LINKS Homework for Life: https://bit.ly/2f9ZPne Speak Up storytelling: http://speakupstorytelling.com Matthew Dicks's website: http://www.matthewdicks.com Matthew Dicks's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/matthewjohndicks  RECOMMENDATIONS Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: https://www.netflix.com/title/80160037 Evernote: https://evernote.com