Writing the story of your life is one of the most exciting, joyful and profound things you can do. It can also be alarming. 

Your life story is huge and sprawling and inhabited by so many people, so many decisions, emotions, ideas, thoughts and events that it can seem overwhelming.  

Questions tumble. What do I include? What do I leave out? How do I organize all this material? 

And the most numbing question of all – Is it sufficiently interesting? 

Mostly, it is. You don’t have to have done anything extraordinary, like walking backwards across the Nullabor, with a tub of butter balanced on your head… And it is good to know that tragedy does not a memoir make. 

You see everything depends on how you write it.  

Ah, there’s the rub…

How can you give your life shape and meaning for the enjoyment, even inspiration, of the reader? 

Two things are critical and they are the crux of my workshop:

1. You must be prepared to hunt for yourself and to reveal the inner essence of yourself.
2. And you must learn the principles of how to tell a good story.

In this engaging workshop you will learn how to:

• Stand back from your life and look at it as a writer would.
• Dive into your life and uncover detail that you may have forgotten.
• Find something intriguing that will act as a pivot and help to structure your story.
• Write scenes that will transport your reader into your life.
• Treat yourself as a character with passions, motivations and idiosyncrasies.

We shall also be looking at what to do with family secrets… do you tell the truth? And if so what do you do about upsetting other family members? What if Great Aunt Gertrude sues you?

… And we will explore the fascinating and elusive boundary between fact and fiction.

 Who should attend?  

• Anyone who is toying with the idea of writing their personal story and has no idea how, or where, to start.

• Anyone who would like to pass her story down through the generations. Perhaps our greatest gift to others is our true story.
   
• Anyone who wishes to look at their life differently – with the scrupulous, observing eye of the writer – and then to transform it with the power and whimsy of their imagination.
   
• Anyone who has attended my Writing from the Heart workshop, with its emphasis on writing what you know, and now wants to explore more deeply.

 Caution: This workshop is the beginning of a journey, which may transform you and the way you view your life…. The very act of writing reactivates memory. It takes courage and dedication. It may be the ultimate validation of your life.

 'What I write is who I am,' – Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

 Comments:

'I was in extremis when I did this workshop. I think I laid down some demons as a result of it.' Alana

Most helpful was finding the ways to start; building scenes and knowing it was possible.' Ruth

'You are a strong, gentle and kind facilitator.' Ingrid

'Learning how to uncover forgotten or repressed memories and how to structure and use them.' Adrianne