I'm promising to show and explain what I did in the real world. What I noticed, how I started talking, what happened next and what I learned while working on my speech.
That is the kind of help I wanted when I was struggling. I wanted someone to make the work visible.
Why the explanation matters to me
I met people who told me they used to stutter. They sounded great, and I wanted to know what had happened. They couldn't explain it in a way I could use.
That was frustrating. I felt they had got through something I was still stuck in, but couldn't show me a direction. I had to keep looking and trying to find my own way.
What you can actually examine
In the grocery recording, I explain what I did beforehand, see someone looking at cookies, ask about him and respond when he says he cannot eat them. In the market walk, I point out a missed trash can, start a football conversation and ask about somebody I have met before.
Those are particular speaking situations. The useful question is what I did inside them. Why did I start there? What did the other person's answer give me? When did I keep talking, and when did the exchange end?
The work included failure
I spent years studying ideas and taking them into classrooms, dates, work calls and other situations. I blocked. I wasn't quick enough. An idea didn't always do what I hoped it would do.
I've also said plainly that I am one person describing what worked for me, and that I don't know whether another person's experience will be the same. People stutter differently and have different experiences.
That is part of the account I want to give alongside my confidence in what changed my own life.
How I wanted someone to learn beside me
When Don and I discussed practicing together, I wanted him to watch an approach, hear me explain it and then try something himself. The time before and after the encounter could be valuable because we would have a specific situation to talk about.
That was a proposed outing. It describes the kind of teaching I wanted to do, not evidence that the visit happened or that it produced a particular result.
Tell me where the explanation is missing
When I shared my writing, I asked for more than what somebody liked. I especially wanted to know where they needed clarification, where they were thinking they didn't really get it.
That gives me a more useful question to answer. It points to the part of the explanation that needs work.
I am putting out the material I would have wanted: the ordinary encounters, the mistakes, the things I tried and the way I understood them. The demonstrations and the practice account let you look at those details for yourself.