Thanks to a whole host of extraordinary, generous and talented memoirists, authors and coaches, I took a deep dive into a four-day intensive memoir experience, courtesy of writer, author and coach Janelle Hardy. She created this Dirty, Messy, Alive Memoir Workshop Series that has consumed me for the past four days. It just so happens that I’m currently on my own personal writer’s retreat up in Maine for two weeks, and I was able to take full advantage of this amazing opportunity. (Sorry. Don’t hate me.)
How ‘bout this description? “Explore memoir-writing from start to finish and learn from 25+ skilled memoirists and writing teachers - with sessions on outlining, overcoming writer’s block, craft, revision, promotion and more” Join us online, September 26 - 29 (And oh yeah… did I mention it was FREE?)
Since I’ve been going down my own memoir rabbit hole, I’ve done loads of research and studying, read tons of craft and coaching books, and taken a bunch of webinars and courses with incredible writers/coaches like
, Marion Roach Smith, , Ally Fallon, Jane Friedman, and more. I’m bursting with valuable lessons and insight. And little by little, word by word, sentence by sentence, I’m slowly but surely putting it to good use. Someday it will turn into a memoir.I’m so lucky I was able to plug into the wisdom and generous info handed out these past few days (for free!!!) from authors, coaches, publicists, and writing media specialists who contributed to the Dirty, Messy, Alive workshop series. These included Alison K. Williams,
, Allison Lander and Andrea Askowitz, ,Nicole Breit, , Rhonda Douglas, Daniel David Wallace, , and more. And of course, Janelle herself, whose creative vision and skill created this experience. Maybe she’ll offer it again next year. If you’re a memoir-leaning writer, keep an eye out. You can always learn more. I, for one, am full up to my eyeballs, and will be going over the pages and pages of notes I made for months to come, as I write those scenes that are begging to be written.Comments, thoughts, brilliant ideas? Are you one of the gazillions of us writing memoir? Let me know how it’s going so we can celebrate/commiserate together.
It's such a balance between one's actual writing practice and learning the best and wisest ways to approach things--the 'how to do it' of it all. Sadly when one end of the balance is up, the other is usually down. I'm trying to create a balance, though I wish I had learned more "how to do it" with Substack in the beginning --but you know, I simply may not have been able to hear then....
Happy for you Karen! I've been starting to immerse myself in Jeannine Ouellette's teachings. Her methods are quite powerful. It's so interesting to see what is stored in our brains just waiting for the opportunity and coaxing to be set free.