Next Saturday, September 15th, join me and Orlando Museum of Art Associate Curator of Education & Outreach, David Matteson, as we explore the connection between art and story at Writing In…
Did you ever see the 2006 movie Night at the Museum? In it, a natural history museum security guard gets more than he bargained for when he discovers that an ancient curse causes the museum's taxidermy animals and exhibits to come to life. As expected, this event creates chaos that he has to manage.
I've always wanted to spend the night in a museum and have those treasured objects all to myself in the quiet darkness. It is definitely a fun exercise to imagine some of those objects coming to life and interacting with me.
This article was provided by Writing Your Life team member Amanda Benson.Earlier this week I received a newsletter from Patricia’s friend Lezlie Laws with LifeArt Studio. Reading it got me thinking again about some of the lessons from Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir, which we studied in Patricia’s recent six-week writing class.
“In memoir, you’re the mommy, and the reader’s the baby,” states Karr. What she means is writers have a great deal of work to do in feeding their readers the story in small, tasteful bites, all along nursing a deepening connection between readers and themselves.
Why is this important? Can’t we just tell our stories without worrying too much about our readers? Sure, we can do whatever we want with our stories. Yet, this is the point where knowing our “why” comes into play. Understanding why we to tell our story vastly informs how we tell it.
If you are newer to the writing process, it may feel overwhelming. What does one do with all of the little stories in order to make them into a real book?
We are here to help! Follow along in this series of bites in the coming weeks to learn more. To see the last two bites, go here and here.
Bite #7 - Now Get a Bigger Notebook
You’ve done it. You’ve decided to write your life stories. Maybe you have already started the project, and a few stories are written. Now what? How do you organize such an overwhelming project? How do you segment such a big life, full of memories, into smaller, more manageable segments?
How can visual art stimulate memories of our life’s experiences? Then, how do we best capture the recollections that arise?
Join me at the crossroads of art and memory as we experience works in the Orlando Museum of Art galleries, and use them to add life, color, and texture to your stories. Fill your writer’s palette with tools that help you write vivid description that will engage your senses and make people and places live and breathe. Examine the brush strokes of good storytelling and have a lot of fun doing it!
Last fall I began a small group writing class of only six people, meeting weekly for six weeks. The format and style of this class were unlike any previously offered, with the added bonus of convening in my home classroom. I just wrapped up the second series of six-week classes, and I wanted to share with you more about this newer teaching platform that I offer.
My in-home classroom.
In the past, I’ve taught larger classes, for nine weeks at a time. I’ve also done many, many workshops and speaking presentations to big groups. There is something about being in a small group, though, that makes for a much different class experience. I’ll let some of my class members share their thoughts.
“Being with the same six writers for the six-week class helped,” said Cheryl Floyd, “because we were able to get to know each other better, learn to recognize our writing styles and see growth between submissions.”
“With only 6 people you really get to know the writing voice of each person. I was more invested in what the others wrote because I was closer to each person in the group,” said Becky McGregor.
I am pleased to introduce you to my client, Becky McGregor, who is currently on the last round of editing on her book, A Dream Called Kristy: My Story of Loss, Healing, and Dreams Fulfilled. The book tells her story of a young mother’s struggle through grief to find healing after her baby’s death.
This book takes the reader on a journey through the worst time a mother can face. There is grief, but there are also fun events, times of growth, and healing of the soul. While this is not a self-help book, there are suggestions offered up to readers. Becky hopes the book will help to heal the heart of a parent who has experienced the loss of a child.
A wife to husband, Bruce, a mother of five, and a grandmother of four, Becky is a genealogist and writer, though she started her work life as a computer science engineer.
I recently asked Becky a few questions and I think you’ll find her answers inspiring and informative:
I've been eating mostly lobster, lately, and haven't had any waffles. Have you had waffles recently? If not, you should, because today, August 24th, is National Waffles Day!
Food memories tend to stick strongly in our minds, don't they? The act of eating is so full of all five senses. Just thinking about waffles, you hear and feel the slight crunch of the toasty outside as you take a bite. You may imagine the sight of sticky, drippy syrup puddling into the waffle's squares. You think about the sweet, buttery, bready taste and, oh, the smell of waffles cooking! There's nothing like it.
Writing the story we are compelled to tell often involves relentless pursuit: grinding away day after day, month after month, sometimes year upon year. The satisfaction one gets when such a project bears fruit in print can be euphoric and surreal. Yet, what if it gets better than that?
Imagine opening your email one day to find these words: “Congratulations! Your entry is a finalist for the 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards competition!”
Two members of the Writing Your Life community just received such a message, and you can imagine their elation.
Our editing tips over the next few months are part of a series called Dial up Your Dialogue, by Writing Your Life editor Teresa Bruce. Be sure to follow along each month for Teresa’s fantastic tips to energize your dialogue.99190 WUOT Dialogue Logo V2.0
If you’ve ever heard Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine, you’ve witnessed the hilarity of an ambiguous conversation crafted with care. In most cases, however, you’ll want readers understanding your dialogue without confusion.
Be sure your readers can tell who speaks each line of dialogue. In the example cited in last month's Dial Up Your Dialogue editing tip, context revealed Timmy and Mom as the speakers. In a scene with more than two individuals present, vary the use of dialogue tags—he said, she said, Timmy said, Mom said—with action beats that show each speaker acting in a way that enhances the story.
Did you ever see the 2006 movie Night at the Museum? In it, a natural history museum security guard gets more than he bargained for when he discovers that an ancient curse causes the museum's taxidermy animals and exhibits to come to life. As expected, this event creates chaos that he has to manage.
I've always wanted to spend the night in a museum and have those treasured objects all to myself in the quiet darkness. It is definitely a fun exercise to imagine some of those objects coming to life and interacting with me.
Earlier this week I received a newsletter from Patricia’s friend Lezlie Laws with LifeArt Studio. Reading it got me thinking again about some of the lessons from Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir, which we studied in Patricia’s recent six-week writing class.
“In memoir, you’re the mommy, and the reader’s the baby,” states Karr. What she means is writers have a great deal of work to do in feeding their readers the story in small, tasteful bites, all along nursing a deepening connection between readers and themselves.
Why is this important? Can’t we just tell our stories without worrying too much about our readers? Sure, we can do whatever we want with our stories. Yet, this is the point where knowing our “why” comes into play. Understanding why we to tell our story vastly informs how we tell it.
Bite #7 - Now Get a Bigger Notebook
You’ve done it. You’ve decided to write your life stories. Maybe you have already started the project, and a few stories are written. Now what? How do you organize such an overwhelming project? How do you segment such a big life, full of memories, into smaller, more manageable segments?
How can visual art stimulate memories of our life’s experiences? Then, how do we best capture the recollections that arise?
Join me at the crossroads of art and memory as we experience works in the Orlando Museum of Art galleries, and use them to add life, color, and texture to your stories. Fill your writer’s palette with tools that help you write vivid description that will engage your senses and make people and places live and breathe. Examine the brush strokes of good storytelling and have a lot of fun doing it!
I am pleased to introduce you to my client, Becky McGregor, who is currently on the last round of editing on her book, A Dream Called Kristy: My Story of Loss, Healing, and Dreams Fulfilled. The book tells her story of a young mother’s struggle through grief to find healing after her baby’s death.
This book takes the reader on a journey through the worst time a mother can face. There is grief, but there are also fun events, times of growth, and healing of the soul. While this is not a self-help book, there are suggestions offered up to readers. Becky hopes the book will help to heal the heart of a parent who has experienced the loss of a child.
A wife to husband, Bruce, a mother of five, and a grandmother of four, Becky is a genealogist and writer, though she started her work life as a computer science engineer.
I recently asked Becky a few questions and I think you’ll find her answers inspiring and informative:
I've been eating mostly lobster, lately, and haven't had any waffles. Have you had waffles recently? If not, you should, because today, August 24th, is National Waffles Day!
Food memories tend to stick strongly in our minds, don't they? The act of eating is so full of all five senses. Just thinking about waffles, you hear and feel the slight crunch of the toasty outside as you take a bite. You may imagine the sight of sticky, drippy syrup puddling into the waffle's squares. You think about the sweet, buttery, bready taste and, oh, the smell of waffles cooking! There's nothing like it.
Imagine opening your email one day to find these words: “Congratulations! Your entry is a finalist for the 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards competition!”
Two members of the Writing Your Life community just received such a message, and you can imagine their elation.
