StoriesThatLift - Blog

Why would someone start an adventure like StoriesThatLift.com in the first place?

I have had this idea growing for a long time.  I was confident there were really good stories out there that will help lift people up and at the same time entertain. You find that occasional book that does that for you, you hear that occasional presentation that makes you say “wow”, and then you watch people do great things but rarely do you find it documented where others can read or hear it. This is especially true for the concept of hearing or reading it for free. So the idea of starting a website that would be dedicated to finding and publishing stories that lift and entertain became possible after I retired from my first career. With 500 fewer employees to supervise, I was no longer asking “You did what?” or “What were you thinking?” I was able to focus some energy on understanding the web enough to venture into the fray.

The first thing I had to do was ensure I had a decent contracting assignment as a day job to finance a night venture. It took over a year of consulting to get to the point I felt I could get the consulting work done in 40 to 50 hours per week, allowing another 15 or 30 hours per week for the website.

Another task was to convince my wife that late nights working on the web would be an ok venture. I usually try to spend much of the evening with her, but when she heads to bed, I head for the computer.

The next thing was to get some help. Kami, my daughter, was keen to help with reviewing submitted stories and keep the interactions with authors moving forward. This lifted a substantial workload from me so I could focus on figuring out how to build a website. I am only barely versed in being a webmaster, but I have learned a great deal as we have moved along.  Someday maybe it will become even nicer.

I started out as the voice for stories - and most of the stories were of my writing.  As more stories were submitted we moved many of the original stories to a separate webpage that remains accessible but is mostly there for the curious to see how it all began. Anyone interested in hearing these initial stories can access them at tmqstories.storiesthatlift.com.  Now we rely less on my voice.

At an early stage I got an interesting email from Jamie Moore saying he say a craigslist ad that was seeking great stories for a new website. He wanted to know more about it. I found his website TheJamieMoore.com. Quickly Kami and I agreed we wanted to get him involved.  After a few interactions he agreed to join us.  We are so impressed by his talent. In addition to producing the children’s stories with character voices, music, and sound effects, we are looking to get him to narrate the other stories.  He has to make a living and at this stage we can’t pay for his work on the site. As a result he too is burning the midnight oil to contribute his talent to the StoriesThatLift.com.

I knew we needed an artist.  I danced with several potential artists, but they were mostly not in a position where they could speculate with us that the site would be successful.  I was concerned that most of the artists were focused on putting too much time and energy into the artwork for the site.  It seemed to me that we needed sketches rather than “finished” pieces.  So I set out to locate someone who might be close to us in Utah that did great sketches.  I ran across Adam Murray’s website and immediately sought him out.  After a few iterations he agreed to come on board to help us with the artwork for the site.  He has been great to work with.

In our new lifestyle - that is retired from one job and consulting out of a home office - we decided to avoid the coldest and snowiest months of Utah’s climate.  As a result we live in a condo in St. George, Utah’s Dixie, for most of the winter.  While in St. George, I made contact with a few of the Storyteller’s of southern Utah.  One such find was Adele Tolley Wilson.  Adele had recently retired from a career as a school teacher and was excited about getting involved with us on the website.  Adele has been learning how to record her stories and getting better all the time. Her style is different than that of Jamie Moore’s, but we get a lot of feedback that kids just love to hear her voice telling stories.  We let her carry the weight of being the Grandmotherly voice on the site.  In addition to the classic fairy tales, Adele has added some excerpts from a few of  her books. She wrote books especially for learning by kids. They are popular in the schools and at home where Mom’s and Dad’s spend some time with their kids learning.

That is mostly where we came from and how we got here.  I continue to subsidize the website.  We are now in the process of putting some of the more popular stories into a series of booklets and audio CDs called Grandpa’s Storybook Collection.  It is our hope that these will become popular gifts and someday get me out of the business of subsidizing the StoriesThatLift.com.

If you have ideas you want to contribute to the site, we welcome your comments.