Upcoming Events/Workshops
The Self and the Social Fabric: Writing Stories to Heal a Divided Age
As human beings, we evolve in relationship to our tribes and cultures and the places we have been. Memoirists who know this excel at their craft. In this workshop, you will write scenes and segments of your life story that explore how different contexts have shaped your sense of dignity and belonging. Perfect to jump-start the work of beginners and deepen that of advanced writers.
Virtual: Four sessions beginning, Friday, Nov 17 thru Sun. Nov 19, 2023
Write Your Healing Memoir: Online
Throughout the ages, humans have used stories to encode and decode the meaning of life. Now, in modernity, as the Memoir Revolution matures, more of us than ever are discovering the stories embedded in our own experience. By finding the words to describe our lives, we convert our psychological tension into art. By doing so, we inform others and heal ourselves.
Join me and a small group of other explorers online for an intimate collaborative live effort to find yourself through stories.
Past Events/Workshops
Past engagements have been in colleges and universities, writing groups, senior centers, women’s groups, alumni clubs, libraries, memoir clubs, churches, synagogues, and national associations.
Write Stories for Family Love and Legacy
Northampton Community College, 4 sessions, starting Mar 14, 2017, 2:00 PM Main Campus, Bethlehem, PA
As families grow and spread, one way to maintain bonds is through stories. In this workshop, we’ll explore ways you can upgrade dinner table conversation and family folklore into well-formed stories that add depth to your family emails, newsletters, social media or even biographies.
Memoir Retreat, Water’s Edge Resort and Spa, Westbrook, Connecticut
How to turn facts into stories; Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Northampton Community College
Structuring Your Memoir: Beginning, Middle, and End
10 Reasons to Write Your Memoir
8-hour Memoir Workshop, Chaffee County Writers, Buena Vista, CO
Why write a story about an ordinary life?
Learn to Write your Memoir, 8 hour workshop at Manayunk Art Center
NAMW: Four week teleworkshop – Call from anywhere
Association of Personal Historians Annual Conference
What any writer can learn from the Memoir Revolution: Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, PA
Workshops and Conferences
- “Performance Story Telling”, Good Men Project, The WestEnd, NY, NY
- “The Boy Who Solved Problems”, The Lehigh Valley Story Slam
- “Overcome Writer’s Block and Achieve your Goals “, Montgomery County Community College, Montgomeryville, PA
- “Record the Story of Your Life”, Philadelphia Stories, Manayunk Art Center, Manayunk, PA
- “Writing as an Aid to Spirituality”, Science of the Soul, Quakertown, PA
- “Find Meaning in Your Memories”, Greenshire Arts Consortium, Quakertown, PA
- “How to Write a Memoir”, The Pearl Buck House, Doylestown, PA
- “Demystifying Memoirs”, The Penn Club of New York, NY, NY
- Creative Non-Fiction Panel, Philadelphia Stories “Push to Publish” Conference, Philadelphia, PA
- “Write Your Memoir Workshop”, Chaffee County Writers Exchange, Buena Vista, CO
- “Lessons from the Memoir Revolution”, Association of Personal Historians Annual Conference, Valley Forge, PA
- “I Don’t Brake for Writers Block”, Montgomery County Community College Writers Conference, Montgomeryville, PA
Are you looking for an informative, experienced speaker to share interesting insights with your members?
I speak and teach in the Lehigh Valley, and would like to speak to your members about any topic related to memoirs and life writing. My speaking topics include:
• Effectively capturing your own and your family’s stories through writing
• Using your authentic life stories to connect to others
• Finding fulfillment, self-development, and healing through writing
• Reading memoirs to make better sense of yourself and the people around you.
• Writing to raise awareness and offer insights into a social cause
As the author of a memoir, and three other books about writing, I am passionate about the opportunities the modern Memoir Revolution affords ordinary people to learn about themselves and each other through authentic life stories.
In my talks, whether to small groups or full auditoriums, I share the vision of memoir and life story writing as a stimulating hobby, a way to deepen connections with friends and family, and a way to build community.
I have offered these talks in libraries, houses of worship, senior centers, rotary clubs, writing clubs, bookstores, and colleges.
Topics
- Discover the Story Amidst the Facts
- Read Memoirs to Help you Write Yours
- Structuring Your Memoir: Beginning, Middle, and End
- Memoir Writing Workshop
- Learn to Structure Your Memoir
- Why Write a Story about an Ordinary life?
- Learn to Write your Memoir
Teaching
Adjunct Faculty at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA
Courses:
- Creative Non-Fiction
- Learn to Write Your Memoir
- I Love to Write. Now What?
- Memoir Writing as a Way to Heal
Performance storytelling
Telling My Story about Falling in Love
Reading my Tribute at the Bethlehem Area “Listen to Your Mother” tribute