Story Circle Network: Online Mini-Course
This January 2012, I am thrilled to teach an online course as faculty of Story Circle Network. SCN has been a pioneer women’s literary network for 15 years. Based in Austin, Texas, it now has an international outreach.
In brief, the Story Circle Network offers the only life-writing program designed exclusively for women. Since 1997, this nonprofit organization has provided learning/writing opportunities in memoir, reminiscence, journaling, poetry, family stories, kitchen table stories, writing-as-healing, writing for personal growth and spiritual development, poetry, blogging, and other areas.
My online class is a mini-course.
Class Title: Keepsake Memoir about Mother
Instructor: Kate Farrell
Class Term: January 9-January 30, 2012
Synopsis: The New Year is a good time to remember and celebrate our mothers, our beginnings! What better way to preserve her legacy than with a well-written keepsake memoir? You will weave together a life experience and its meaning into an enduring work.
Class Description: “Keepsake Memoir about Mother” is a three-week course to recall and write a key memory about mother (or mother figure) that is both a compelling story and a powerful message, one that reflects a continuing legacy.
At the end of the course, students will be able to recall an authentic key memory of mother and tell it using a basic story structure, distill the meaning of the memory, and relate its personal truth to combine experience and meaning into a keepsake memoir of mother.
Weekly lessons and prompts will be provided via Yahoo Group site. Students will read assigned material and complete the exercises using templates as suggestions and will upload their written work into files for instructor’s feedback.
To sign up for this and other classes SCN is currently offering, click here!
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Rehearsal Workshop for Book Launch
Kate Farrell
They prepared to read to their peers on a bright, sunny August day in a delightful setting. The SF Bay Area community events at which they will read include the Sonoma County Book Festival and a special celebration at the Sitting Room in Penngrove.
They also tried out recording a one-minute excerpt to be posted on the website! Stay tuned.
Reading Advance Copies
Ana, Jeanne, Barbara, Laura
For more information about the Book Tour, visit the web page!
Those pictured are: Ana Manwaring, Jeanne Jusaitis, Barbara Toboni, And Laura McHale Holland.
Missing from the photos, but present, was Clarice Stasz; Betty VanPatten sent a recording of her reading for us to enjoy.
Laura Recording
Thanks to Ana for sharing her inviting workspace and to the authors for bringing treats and the spirit of camaraderie!
I wish that all twenty-five authors could join us in person this fall, but all will have the opportunity to record a one-minute segment for the website.
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Wisdom Has a Voice Workshop: Anthology Submission Development
January 8, 2011
Kate and Lynn would like to thank all the talented writers who participated in the Anthology Submission Workshop!
Thanks to Ana for sharing her amazing work/loft.
Kate Farrell—Author, Educator, Storyteller and Member, CWC-Redwood and WNBA-San Francisco
Lynn Henriksen—Author, Workshop Leader, Memoirist and President, Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter, Member CWC-Marin
Comment on the October 10th Workshop:
“I have to formally thank you for such a wonderful opportunity last weekend. Having NOT written in my journal for at least 5 years, the prospect of writing in a workshop was at first a little worrisome. But soon after my initial response I was EXCITED, and upon walking into the class space, which you so warmly created, I could not wait to get going, The words flew out of my pencil and when I drove home, I was aware of SO many stories I would like to write. It is thanks to you for creating the nurturing, no-effort environment and the sense of support that I have FINALLY found the voice that is FINALLY ready to share.” ~jaa
Review of August 8th Sitting Room Workshop, Laura’s Take:
Photo courtesy of Laura McHale Holland
“What a cozy place the Sitting Room in Cotati is: bookshelves everywhere, comfy chairs, nooks just right for reading, writing, reflecting. I was there yesterday, one of six women enrolled in “Wisdom has a voice: Daughters Remember mothers,” a writing workshop led by Kate Farrell and Lynn Cook Henriksen.”
So writes Laura McHale Holland on her blog, following a Wisdom workshop given there on August 8th: http://lauramchaleholland.wordpress.com/
“With specific outcomes leading to the goal also clearly stated, they managed to pack a lot into just two hours while maintaining a relaxed, inviting atmosphere. They applied their experience with meditation, the Kolb Learning Cycle (which assists people in reflecting up and drawing meaning from their concrete life experiences), listening and telling, and writing to help participants move from having no idea what to write about to having a draft of an arresting, short memoir.
I wholeheartedly endorse this duo. Each participant’s unique voice came through, and the knowledge that everything shared there would be kept private created a great deal of safety for creativity to emerge.”
