August Community Highlights

Becky McGregor wins FAPA Award

Congratulations to Writing Your Life author Becky McGregor! Becky’s memoir, A Dream Called Kristy: My Story of Loss, Healing, and Dreams Fulfilled (November 2018) won a silver medal on Saturday, August 3, at the Florida Authors and Publishers Association’s 2019 President’s Book Awards. Well done, Becky!

Praise for The Homefront Kid

Janice Presby thought so highly of The Homefront Kid by Writing Your Life author Danny “Del” Placides, she felt compelled to write this review:

“Such a pleasure to read Del Placides’ The Home Front Kid: Growing Up During World War II in Philly. The love of God, the patriotism, the family, the neighborhood and friends, is what the USA was all about and Del lived it well and wrote about it with such a personal and affectionate style. I would recommend it to both young and old to relive ‘the way it was’ through Del’s delightful and amicable relationships.”

A modern take on the dog ate my homework

Write Your Life Story class participant Pat Harchar came to class with a new take on an old excuse. She said, “The Roomba [robot vacuum] ate my homework” and proceeded to show us a chewed up, crunched up, and torn page of journal entries she had dutifully recorded the week before. We all had a good laugh over that one.

Advent Health Parent Advisory Council

It was an enjoyable experience presenting my workshop, Moments to Memoir, to the Parent Advisory Council at Advent Health on August 12. These parents of medically challenged children share their experiences with hospital administrators to help improve hospital practices for future patients.

I taught them how to identify and maximize pivotal moments that tell their stories and discover the best ways to shape those moments into stories readers will remember. After practicing several writing exercises, everyone left with a detailed map of a story to write. It was an honor to spend time with this fantastic group and hear tales from their families.

August Enrichment Academy class

August classes at The Enrichment Academy at The Villages wrapped up recently, and I had an excellent time teaching Write Your Life Story to a group of enthusiastic writers. Our class learned about many foundational aspects of writing well, such as elements of characterization, using timelines, and story mapping. We rounded out our four weeks together with a celebratory lunch after the last class.

Congratulations to our August writing prompt winner, Nancy Nelson! 

Nancy will receive lifetime access to a Writing Your Life Online Coaching Video of her choice.