Memoir
I Remember
An Introduction to Memoir Writing
The Practice of Memoir Writing
I Remember
A 90-minute, interactive, online (Zoom)
Memoir Workshop
TBA – early winter 2024
7 pm – 8:30 pm CST
$35
A few more details and a link to sign up Here.
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We are Our Stories:
An Introduction to Memoir Writing
The workshop is offered in both in-person and interactive online formats.
Your life is a rich collections of stories: stories about your past and your present, stories about your relationships – with other humans, with animals, with nature, with places – stories about your successes and disappointments, stories about boredom, about loyalty and betrayal, stories about love, about routine, about deep personal discovery.
You have this urge, this itch, to write your stories down. You want to share them. Maybe you want to record stories for your children or grandchildren. Maybe you want to publish personal essays or articles or even a full-length book.
But where to begin?
In this six-week class, you won’t be asked to complete a piece of writing. Instead, the in-class writing exercises will help you to explore your memories, introduce (or re-introduce) you to the practice of writing; and encourage you to play with the basic elements of memoir writing. These elements are equally applicable to all forms of creative non-fiction.
While you will be asked to share your work, you don’t need to worry about it being handled roughly. The atmosphere will be friendly and open, and will nurture your creative spirit. You will look at the process of writing about your life from the inside out, as a writer rather than a reader.
And you will begin . . .
Scheduled by arrangement – Contact me for details.
Read the full class description Here.
Workshop Fee: Six Weeks (12 hours) $275
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After completing the introductory workshop, you’re invited to participate in this workshop.
The Practice of Memoir Writing
The workshop is offered in both in-person and interactive online formats.
This mixed-level, ongoing workshop (eight weeks at a time) is for writers with some memoir-writing experience who are seeking further instruction and feedback. Workshop participants can share their work in one of two ways:
A week in advance, writers can distribute copies of their work (up to 20 pages) to each workshop participant. Participants will read and comment on the work at home. The following week, we will discuss the work as a group. The writer will sit quietly and listen. At the end of the discussion, the author will be invited to comment or to ask questions. This is the traditional “workshopping” format used in most MFA writing programs.
The writer can bring a shorter piece of work (up to four pages) to the workshop and read aloud to the group—a scene or two, an exploration of a character, an exploration of back story, and so on. The writer is an active participant in the discussion.
My role as workshop leader is both moderator and coach. Participants can expect an environment that is both highly supportive and rigorous. There is no shredding of anyone’s work in this (or any) workshop. We do not try to “fix” a writer’s work—it is not broken; it is in process. We do not impose our own style and approach on the writing of another participant. Instead, we honestly respond as readers and ask questions about the work with the intention of helping the writer find the heart of the work—what the work is trying to say—and the hearts of the characters—who they truly are. You will be challenged in this fiction workshop, but never battered.
Fee: Eight Weeks (16 hours), $360
Workshop Schedule