I’ve been thinking today about who we are when we write — and I don’t mean how we view ourselves as people, but who we are as storytellers — because when we write, we can do so from many different perspectives. Depending on what we’re writing about, we can be whomever we want to be. We can be the victim,…
One small step… Last month, we lost an American hero, astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, the first man to set foot on the moon, the one who mouthed those iconic words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” What do you remember or have been told about this memorable time on July 20, 1969…
On Thursday, September 20, 2012, Patricia Charpentier of Writing Your Life and Pat Coamey of Group Travel Specialists joined forces to give attendees a glimpse of what great adventures await them on the Writing the Waves cruise next May. Pat Coamey showed a video of life onboard Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas that featured twice-weekly parades down the promenade…
What do you see in this title? A brief description of the writing process? Yes, but what else? All the words end in ing? Right. So, what?I love ing words. They often help create a rhythm and a cadence that is pleasing to my ear. They move my sentences merrily along in a babbling brook sort of way, and they…
We had a great Write Your Life Story – The Basics workshop on Saturday where thirteen enthusiastic writers learned about organizing their work, generating story ideas, blocking out a story, revising, proofreading and much, much more. One thing we touched on was how to come up with a good title for your story. Today, let’s take a better look at…
Thirteen members participated in the Write Your Life Story – The Basics workshop on Saturday, September 8th. Click here to see photographs of the event. We began the day with a writing exercise everyone used to introduce themselves and talk more about what motivates them to put words to paper. Some said they write in hopes of publication, some write…
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…
