BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Journals Writerr' Workshop

Our local library and the Friends of the Library are sponsoring a workshop again this year - I'll be volunteering but will be able to sit in on one or two of the sessions -

One session is "How to Begin Your Writing Life" and another is "Making Stories from Story Fragments"

Oh that would be interesting!

It would be even better if I could type.

We've had the workshops before and they are always good. One year one of the speakers talked about writing your memoir. Her's was an unbelievable story. Some talk about writing historical novels or writing mysteries or how to get published. There are nine speakers scheduled and you choose three. Lunch will be provided as part of the registration fee.

Our library is having MEMOIR WRITING workshops.
sheryl

Making Stories from Story Fragments sounds really interesting. I've jotted down ideas and thoughts, but they rarely make it into a story.

What a great learning opportunity you have at your disposal.

Wow - that's awesome. Congratulations on the opportunity to share!

Angela <><

Yes, the trick is to weave all I might learn into something coherent

The event was awesome and well-attended. There were nine authors and I sat in on three of the talks. The list of authors included Mary Burton, John J. Lamp, Faye Ringel, Austin S. Camacho, Linda Goodman, Kathleen Mix, Karen Jones, Ron Smith, and Joanne Liggan.

Mary Burton spoke about creating characters readers won't forget. She spoke about the emotional hook that you need within the first paragraph or two. She said that is a must to please the editors. The emotional hook is what drives the character. She gave examples from not only books but movies and television shows.

Linda Goodman spoke about making stories from fragments. She is a storyteller. She collected great lines and scenarios for years but couldn't make a story out of them but then she learned the art of storytelling and explained how to weave all the elements or fragments into a story. I did purchase her book with six short stories.

Karen Jones talked about how to begin your writing life. She gave tips about poster board, clustering, using index cards to break a block. While she was talking a first grader was sitting next to me. She was with her grandmother who was a volunteer and introduced the speaker. She doodled for awhile and wrote her story in pictures. Then when she got the poster board, she tried her hand at clustering. She was cute as a button. Ms. Jones is working on a book about death - beating the high cost of funerals. She mentioned a site that sells furniture that converts to a coffin. The first grader told me that her story was about a monster who crossed the street and was hit by a car and killed. She must have been listening to the speaker while she was doodling.

Ms. Jones is the one who challenged everyone to writing at least five minutes every day for the first week and then increasing it to ten the following week and then increasing it thereafter. She said to place totems next to our writing space when we begin. That is the signal that it is time to write. She said in the beginning, we might only be able to come up with three words but that would be OK.

That sounds like a very helpful series!

I definitely agree that the more you write every day, the more you get used to writing.

I don't have time to write a diary any more,or to create my favorite writing-poetry, so what I do is to enter a mini poem about the natural world most days.

It's my way of keeping a poetry journal ticking over. it also appears on my writing business website:

Perhaps you will post a sample of one of your poems here.

I have always wanted to go to a writing or journaling workshop. The ones I've seen are always a bit too pricey for me. Seems like they're usually someplace far away, so I have to consider travel, lodging, and meals... and the co$ts just kind of pile up, not counting the workshop itself.

Ah, when my ship comes in...

That is a shame that they're far away! What if you organized one at a local library?

Oooh............ there's a thought.

I stink at organizing, though.

Gotta think on that one. I sure would love it.

OK so enlist a friend who likes to organize things, and that way you get the fun event you're interested in

Oooh, neat idea.

I know several gals like that. Hustle-bustle organizers. They are SO good at it, as good at it as I am bad at it. And they LOVE doing things, too.

I have ideas, but no organizational skills at all.

Now I'm thinking................................

ooooooooooo I'm organized and have been thinking about this for some time. NOBODY I knnow journals, though. And I'm so disappointed when I have to travel abroad (meaning expensive)to go to any writing function. I did join a writing group long ago, but they became unorganized and had to close shop. So disappointing since I got so much out of their montly meetings. PLEASE keep me in the loop. I'm in California, central that is.

We need to set up a nice real-time online journaling thing, Lynn Ann! I'm far enough away from everyplace that I could never afford one of those *real* ones..

Maybe an email group? Or a weekly chat at least? If anyone was interested I could re-activate my domain...

I would be interested in doing something as you mentioned above. YOU ARE IN CHARGE!!! Tell me what to do and I'll organize it ...lol...but I don't know a lot of people...yet.

I haven't been neglecting you..... well, actually, I guess I have and I apologize.

I have been doing a little research if anyone is still interested.

yes

[quote=Angie]Ms. Jones is the one who challenged everyone to writing at least five minutes every day for the first week and then increasing it to ten the following week and then increasing it thereafter. [/quote] That is such a great idea! I write daily, but when I'm trying to encourage other people to keep a journal, trying to write for half an hour can seem very daunting to them. I love the idea of starting off with five minutes and increasing it. Kind of like running - you don't start off with a marathon. You run around the block once. Next week you run around the block twice. And so on. I took a couple of memoir courses and what amazed me was the stories that so many of us &quot;average&quot; people have. People experience and survive heroic adventures on a daily basis. We all have a story to tell.

We do have chat software here at BellaOnline, so maybe we can talk our journals editor into hosting a weekly chat here!

The trouble I have with so many of these things is arranging a time that's good for everyone. Seems like I've seen so many chats and online seminars that are on weekday afternoons... that time is bad for me and I'm sure for many others. Evenings are good for me but might not be for you!

How DO you figure out a good time, or would one recommend having some kind of open chat room, say on a day where one could come in whenever?

I'm still thinking here. I'm sorry to have been so uncommunicative lately, but I've been very much "under the weather".

I find the same thing with chats, it is pretty much impossible to find a time that works for everyone. Even here at BellaOnline when we have an "editor's chat" that a ton of editors really want to attend, out of 400 editors we might get maybe 15 who can make that exact time and day. So it is just very hard.

An alternative is to set up a forum thread about a specific topic and then make one day - say Monday April 12th - a primary day to post in the thread. So on Monday, when people can, they swing by, see the discussion, add their notes, and feel like they're a part of it. But that way even people who are busy on Monday and who come by on Tuesday can see the discussion and add in their thoughts.

Lisa - I like your idea about forum thread day. I'd totally be up for participating in that. I have a prob, too with daytime chats because of my 9-5 gig.

I have a 9-5 Plus schedule, meaning I do extra stuff many evenings and weekends. I could do a forum thread day...

And I do apologize for not responding. Between my schedule and a truly horrific fibromyalgia flare, I've been really low.

I won't bore you all with the details; that's for my journal (and a captive audience it is)!