Come write with me!
The culmination of years of teaching memoir at the college level and in the community, the three signature workshops described below offer thought-provoking prompts in a warm, open-hearted group setting that will help you dive into and begin to explore your life story.
Perfect for memoirists, they’re also wonderful for anyone interested in using writing as a contemplative practice. By looking back over our life experience, we can better understand our present, and move more intentionally into the future we desire.
In 2019 I offered workshops at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Bioneers Conference, the Transformative Language Arts Network Power of Words Conference, the WriteAngles Conference at Mt. Holyoke College, the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia, and many more venues!
Check my calendar to register for upcoming workshops and don’t hesitate to contact me if you’d like me to bring purposeful memoir to your organization or community!
Join me on the journey!
1
The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir:
Writing the Journey of Your Life
My award-winning writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, uses the four elements—Earth, Water, Fire and Air—as potent metaphors to help us structure and explore our life journeys.
- Earth represents the childhood ground of our being;
- Water the teenage and young adult years, when we enter the cultural stream of our time and place;
- Fire represents our passions as well as the trials and tribulations we all face;
- Air is the space of reflection and self-commentary.
In this popular memoir workshop, I offer inspiring, open-ended prompts that will get you thinking about your life story in stimulating new ways. Suitable for all writing levels, whether you’re just beginning to record the journey of your life, have a memoir in the works, or just want to engage in personal writing as a contemplative practice.
Recent presentations include: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, 2019; Writing/Angles Conference, Mt. Holyoke College, 2018; Norman Rockwell Museum, 2018; Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Mahone Bay NS, 2018; American Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE), 2015.
2
Aligning the Personal, Political and Planetary:
Purposeful Memoir as a Path to a Thriving Future
This ground-breaking workshop uses purposeful memoir as a technique for exploring the past, understanding the present, and envisioning the thriving future you want to live into—both individually and as a member of various communities. As we align our personal stories with the larger narratives of our time and place, we are able to more deeply understand the present moment as a springboard into a sustainable, thriving future for all life on Earth.
My transformational workshops in purposeful memoir are not just for writers—they will catalyze deep thinking and evocative sharing in anyone who seeks to awaken or deepen their practice of spiritually grounded activism and conscious leadership, in their own lives and in their communities.
Recent and upcoming presentations: Bioneers Conference, 2019; Transformative Language Arts Network Conference, 2019; Alliance for a Viable Future, 2019; Bascom Lodge, Mt Greylock State Reservation, 2019; Findhorn Foundation, Scotland, 2020.
3
The Alchemy of Purposeful Memoir:
Saluting the Positive and Transmuting the Negative in Your Life Story
Whether you are already embarked on a memoir project, or just want to spend some productive time writing about your life in good company, this transformative series of workshop sessions will give you new insights and entry points into your life story.
Each session offers open-ended writing prompts that will get you thinking more deeply about both the high points and the challenges of your life experience.
Optional sharing, using my time-tested protocol for positive, non-evaluative peer feedback, offers opportunities for deep listening to self and others, as we honor the commonalities and differences among those in our circle.
Recent presentations include: Writers Federation of Nova Scotia, Wolfville NS, 2019; Lunenburg Public Library, Lunenburg NS, 2019; on-going monthly series in Lenox, MA, 2019-present.
