The only writer elected to membership in both the Baseball Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Roger Angell has written a new memoir–This Old Man: All in Pieces—a collection of thoughts and wisdom related to aging and writing accumulated over his 94 years of life. Read a review of This Old Man: All in Pieces here and see if…
Have you ever hopped a ride on one of these? This wonderful rocking horse is only one of the many items that will lead you down memory lane in the Mementos and Memories workshop on Sunday, August 18th at Wonderful Things by Kim, a fantastic collectibles shop in Longwood. Kim came across this trusty steed at an estate sale in…
This is a workshop that helps writers come up with topics they might not have otherwise thought to write about. You’ll be given a variety of prompts, with five to fifteen minutes of time to write about a memory related to the prompt. The class aims to tap in to your ability to write without thinking ahead too much. At the…
On Saturday, February 9th, I had the privilege of sharing by Bring Your Ancestors to Life presentation with members of the Genealogical Society of Sarasota. We discussed many forms a family history story can take, and I was thrilled by the enthusiasm in the room! It’s not easy to know what to do with a collection of facts and historical data. It feels overwhelming,…
… about writing your life story, but were too afraid to ask! Why should I write my life story? Where do I start? How do I finish? What should I leave in? What should I take out? Can I write my story even if my spelling and grammar aren’t that great? Should I write about the painful times or just…
Join the fun and sign up for our next nine-week Writing Your Life class, which begins on Thursday, March 14th and runs through Thursday, May 9th. Classes are held on eight consecutive Thursdays from 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. at the Marks Street Recreational Center in downtown Orlando. On the ninth week of class, we enjoy a public reading and reception where…
In the last month, I’ve had the great pleasure of spending time with genealogists in Flagler County, The Villages, and Sarasota. Many of them have been researching family history for thirty years or more; one woman dedicated much of the last sixty years to discovering branches of her family tree. That’s a lot of names, dates, and places, but it…
Call to mind a photograph of you as a child that is familiar to you. It may be one that hung on the wall of your home throughout your growing up years or possibly, an image of your young self you’ve recently seen for the first time. How old are you in the photograph? What are you doing? Who else…
Today, let’s write about love. Who is it or was it in your life who taught you the most about love? What did they teach you? How did they teach you about love? Pay attention to the first name or image that pops into your mind. It might not be who you expect, but don’t immediately push it away. Consider…
Thank you so much for the warm welcome to The Villages Genealogical Society. I was quite impressed with your group and the quality of writing in the few exercises we read. I’m sure yours was wonderful, too. Here’s a link to a copy of the poem I read, “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon and some of the responses written…
