Memoir Writing Class Begins. Day 1

Class begins today.  Week One. 

 I'm excited and happy to be taking Memoir Writing: Toward Completion  

being taught by author and book editor Lisa Dale Norton of Santa Fe Writing Institute.

First assignment:

A short biography to introduce myself to the class 

about my life and family, my work and writing, and why I'm taking this class.

Second assignment:

A 250-word description of the memoir project I plan to work on this term.

Pencil chewing about which 'slice of life' experience and accompanying memories
to explore, corral, then form into words worth reading.

Third assignment:

Inspired by this week's lesson,

write 1,250 words of fresh memoir material 

 
End Goal of the Class:

To create 5,000 words of new material for my memoir project


A good start to a book, maybe?
I sure hope so.

This is my new life and
we're writing to find the right words.

Let's Start This Again...

You see... 

Next week, I begin a new writing adventure.

I'm enrolled in a memoir writing course Toward Completion: Memoir Writing 

with author and book editor Lisa Dale Norton of the Santa Fe Writing Institute.

I first 'met' Lisa through her book which I stumbled upon at the library one day:

Shimmering Images, A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir 

Then I went in search of Lisa on her website. I knew I wanted to take her class.
 We emailed back and forth about the course... and here I am

Poised, ready, waiting

And as I wait,
I decide that my Just Write blog will be a 
perfect place to work on my homework.

If you wish, you are welcome to peek over my shoulder 
as I pencil chew, ponder, click away on my keyboard.

I have no real idea where this will begin... or more to the point... where it will end.

But I'm looking forward to the journey...exploring my memories and looking for those
little 'slices of life' ~ making sense of life  and what I've learned along the way.

 Why memoir writing?

I felt for a long time now that there are stories I need to share...

especially those of my sacred inner journey

(which I've been skittish about sharing in public)

but something...Someone...won't let me off the hook.
I feel this is a gentle way to share my stories with people.


Even though I haven't been writing here in a long while,
I have not not been writing.
I've been writing.  Every day.

But there were doors that were locked.
Doors I didn't yet know how to open and be free.
And doors I still needed to go through first to get to the next step.

There's a little bit more on that on my About page and

yu can read about my little door insight here.

I'll try and share more on how one door blew open.

And, now,  here I am. 

  

© Brenda Leyland