Last Sunday, a group of sixteen Writing Your Lifers got a taste of what’s to come on the Writing the Waves cruise, which sets sail on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas on May 12, 2013. We spent time touring the ship and enjoying a wonderful sit-down lunch. Unfortunately, we had to leave at 3:00 p.m. while the other guests…
In last week’s post on Writing with Photographs, we talked about ways to look at photographs—how to systematically examine the photograph’s physical characteristics, inventory the image, listen for the story the picture has to tell and answer the basic who-what-where-when-why-how questions. Now, let’s focus our attention on what to do with the information gleaned from the study of our photographs.…
Anyone who talks with me for five minutes knows that I am all about taking the large lives we’ve lived and breaking them into smaller, more manageable pieces, hence the name of my book, Eating an Elephant: Write Your Life One Bite at a Time. But I also believe that we gain great insight and give our stories depth by…
Last week Bob and I spent a few days at the beach in conjunction with a talk I gave to members of the Amelia Island Genealogical Society. (To view photos of this event, click here.) We relaxed and spent time with our good friend Liam, and by slowing down and experiencing a new place, I was reminded of how important…
Set aside Sunday, October 21st for an excursion to inspect Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas at Port Canaveral. A motor coach will pick us up in Orlando and drive us to the ship where a Royal Caribbean representative will meet us and give us a tour of this wonderful vessel. Next, we’ll enjoy a sit-down lunch in the dining…
After the First Saturday Writing Workshop a couple of days ago, new Writing Your Life class member Bruce asked a question I hear often: Is it better to write by hand or on a computer? I gave him a strong, qualified answer: Well, it depends. And it does. It depends on what works best for you. There is no one…
Bob and I are in South Louisiana visiting my parents and other family members this week. In the room where we’re staying, my mother has a large, walk-in closet which holds a lifetime of memories. Each piece on those shelves has a story, and the fact it has survived all these years confirms its importance to my mother. It made…
People sit around table. With pencil in hand and pages before them, they follow along as someone reads an excerpt from his or her life story. A discussion follows: I liked how you described this person. Your dialogue is well written. You might want to vary the structure of your sentences in this paragraph. I’d really like to hear more…
At the First Saturday Writing Workshop a couple of days ago, I was reminded of the importance of writing our life stories in such a vivid way . I gave a prompt to write about one of the most unusual things the participants had ever seen in the sky. I expected big sightings—the aurora borealis, a sky full of hot…
Hook ’em … Your first sentence or two can make or break the story. It can entice your reader to keep going or convince him to go take a nap, so it’s important to put time and effort into constructing a great opening. But, and this is a big but, work on your opening after you’ve written the story. Don’t…
