Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Sailing into Memoir Writing


My first love, or rather my first love-hate relationship, was with my journal. I began writing in my late teens when my love of horses was replaced by self-doubt and angst as I left the family farm at 17. Love because it was my new friend. Hate because it was inescapable, the clingy friend who just won't leave you in peace, not even for a single day.

But I was no writer. It wasn't until 2002 at the ripe age of 48 when I stumbled on a connection between all those years of journaling and the art of memoir: a course description linking journals and memoirs in a non-threatening manner that appealed to my fragile soul. I enrolled in the year-long course in hopes of making sense of a life tangled by tragedy.
My first book, The Thirty-Ninth Victim (Blue Feather Books 2008, Booktrope re-pub TBA), and my second manuscript, Moving Mom (Booktrope pub date TBA), are both memoirs. Now, after completing The Alki Trilogy, I return to the world of memoir.

In my new work-in-progress, I revisit my Mexico City years. A memoir, right? I'd like to include a dear friend's point-of-view because our stories blend, but she was lost to cancer. I cannot write her memoir, so her thoughts, her voice, her world view can only be fictionalized. Or, I must stick to my own.

As I embark on this new writing adventure, I hope you will join me. I'll be setting sail in Duvall, WA.What? No water, you say? We'll fictionalize water.


I'll be at the helm of a one-evening-only memoir writing adventure. Whether you are a new or experienced writer, bring your notebook and pen to this hands-on workshop. Learn how to turn off your internal editor to get your story on the page, decide how to organize your work, and even what to do with that completed manuscript. Welcome aboard! 

Duvall Library
Memoir Writing Workshop
15508 Main Street NE
Duvall, WA 98019
425.788.1173
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

2 comments:

mary rowen said...

Arleen, how I wish I could afford to fly my mom to Seattle for this workshop. Her life has been marked by periods of extreme joy but also some of extreme pain, and she would love to write a memoir. However, the courses she's taken at her local library have not been helpful and she's become frustrated. Best of luck with the class! I know it will be great.

arleen said...

Thank you, Mary Rowen. I'd love to meet your mother. Maybe in a future workshop? Maybe in a library workshop in her town (where does she live)? It was a wonderful evening. This FB comment from one attendee:

Linda Bittle: Thank you for sharing your heart with us last evening. I enjoyed your class, and got excited about writing again!

Warms a teacher/writer's heart!