Writing your Memoirs: My Original Course-We're close to 10,000 Viewers!!

Writing Your Memoirs: We all have an Interesting life story to tell! Overview: In this course we will explore the genre of memoir. We will review the works of writers who have written about ordinary events in their lives which have inspired them in order to see that our own lives contain many meaningful experiences that will serve as inspiration for our own writing. Students will sample three varied techniques that will show them how to take their life experiences to create a memoir to record their events. Students will receive a packet of materials, samples, and other resources to help them continue with their project once they complete this class. Students will discuss classifying and organizing events and collecting artifacts and photos that will help them in their project. They will also be encouraged to discuss and reflect on the significance of remembered events and to keep a notebook of their thoughts and feelings. The instructor will share examples of memoir that she has taught and created in order in inspire the class. By the end of the session, students will have drafted an introduction and set of notes or outline to help them begin their Memoirs. Topics covered include: 1. Defining a Memoir, compare and contrast with biography and autobiography 2. What is an epiphany? What is a significant event to you and why? 3. Using treasured objects as catalysts 4. Writing around a photo, or using illustration 5. Using favorite recipes or patterns to tell stories 6. Organizing events around: a. Stages of life: infancy/childhood; adolescence/adulthood/family life/professional life b. Major life events c. Holidays and family/friend gatherings d. Emblematic moments e. Audience Objectives/Outcomes: The student will demonstrate: 1. Oral and written language skills to create, clarify, and extend their personal understanding of what they experience through their senses through introspection and interaction with others. 2. Practice and apply basic investigative techniques to generating material for memoir , including the use of questions Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? 3. ability and confidence to use oral and written language to the needs of their audience 4. Interest in writing and reading as a means to understanding themselves 5. creation of Memoir to record and preserve emblematic moments in their lives 6. Knowledge to help them complete their project and continue their interest through possibly joining a writers group that specializes in Memoir writing. Materials and techniques instructor will share with students include: Books, excerpts poetry, essays include: Marcel Proust, Remembrance of things Past Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory Barbara Pym, A Very Private Eye Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Joan Didion, On Keeping a Notebook Gunda Davis, Pumpkin Soup and Shrapnel Personal Memoir and Journals belonging to the author Works by Laura Ingalls Wilder The Journals of Sylvia Plath The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Works by Maya Angelou Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors Works by Tasha Tudor Barbara Cooney, Hattie and the Wild Waves Jean Little Little by Little Robert Kimmel Smith The War with Grandpa Works by Ray Bradbury Works by Charlotte Bronte Crescent Dragonwagon, Home Place N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain The Diary of Anne Frank Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall Students will also receive a bibliography of these and other works helpful to their interest in Memoir. Above works will be prepared and excerpted, where necessary, by the Instructor.

Message from the River

See below; here is a true collector's spirit; how Chad Pegracke started a Message in the Bottle collection from what he gleaned from the Mighty Mississippi: "In my work, I see thousands of plastic bottles out there. But I'm always scanning, looking in every bottle for a piece of paper. You get psyched out a lot because people have stuffed napkins or wrappers in there. You get kind of excited and then, "Oh no." It's the ultimate thing to find out there. When you're working, you don't use that time to open it right then. You put it in (the) boat, think about it and then open it up and read it. There's usually a lot of anticipation for it, especially at a big cleanup. It's a romantic idea. And truthfully, most of them aren't like a treasure map. Usually they're more intimate. ... They're sort of writing to the universe or the one above, just putting their thoughts out there."

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Our Wishlist and some thoughts on Jimi Hendrix

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Our Wishlist and some thoughts on Jimi Hendrix: As long as the big man in the red suit is coming soon, we will continue our museum wishlist. Wishes are, after all free, and sometimes, the...

Books Still the Majority and a Question for my Readers

Today as I was driving to work in the rainy fog of chilly October morning, I heard on NPR that books are still 80% of the publishing industry with eBooks, Kindles, Nooks, etc., making up the other 20%. True food for thought. As I have always said, I am a sucker for the heft of a book in my hand. I would be one of those affluent 17th c. women who had their portraits done among their libraries and curiosities, true signs of affluence and wealth in their day. If books were wealth, I'd be a billionaire today. Perhaps if I sold mine at $1 each, I'd still be going away with a good nest egg. I have so many memories associated with books and school, and they are almost always good. I still retreat to them in hard times. As one attorney colleague of mine once said, when his mother died during his thirteenth year, it was books that pulled him through. Another friend, a young mother with 4 little kids, once told me she often wished she were in school, just her and her books. What book would you take with you to a deserted island? Could you choose? If all your books, really all of them, could be put on an eReader, would you put them there and get rid of the actual books? What do you read? What do you write? Where do you read? Who is your audience? Are reading and writing linked for you? I would love to know; feel free to answer in comments, or tweet me at hashtag Dr. E's Doll Museum. Happy Halloween!

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Empty Mansions; the Life of Huguette Clark and Her...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Empty Mansions; the Life of Huguette Clark and Her...: >Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune Hardcover– Deckle Edge by Bill De...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Halloween and Dolls and antique Wax Models for Ana...

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Halloween and Dolls and antique Wax Models for Ana...: One of the things I enjoy is posting on Pinterest. I have a Holidays Board and a Doll Collection Board; both contain images of Halloween an...

What to do at a Reading

I did a reading tonight with some friends at our local library. There is a community program done every year called Read Local. Tonight, I read with three other women. As is often the case, a theme runs through the poetry. Tonight was autumn, Sylvia Plath, women accused of witchcraft, law, and religion. I read from With Love from Tin Lizzie about masks and automatons and from my chapbook, Sappho, I should have Listened. Poets were reading their title pieces, so I read the actual poem “Sappho, I should have Listened.” We read poems from different parts of our writing careers, and gave an idea of the structure of our books. For women falsely accused of sorcery, I read “The Blood Countess/ For Erzebet” I note that those who wrote historical fiction had a few notes about the history that inspired them. Others, including me, gave brief biographies of the women they wrote about and why they inspired them. I think a little background whets the audience’s appetite. We also brought copies of our books to display, exchange, and sell. Students of writing often introduce themselves, eager to join groups and get ideas. Ironically, a local poets group was meeting across the hall from where we did the reading. Read Local is a good way for local writers to become aware of each other. There are programs like it everywhere, and LinkedIn features groups for writers of all types. You can join as many groups as you want online and commiserate and get ideas. On another note, I picked up some magazines to read at the library, and one 2003 Doll Reader had an article by our friend Shirley Holub, on doll hospitals. She writes the Doll Hospital series for Scholastic Books. For those who write memoir, there are several new biographies and memoirs on the shelves, including one by Shirley Jones, where “Mrs. Partridge” allegedly tells all. Now is the time to get out those holiday ornaments, photos, and old cards. You never know what might trigger a memoir. You might also try a historical prompt, “Where were you when…..” and include a significant historical event that affected you.