Monday, January 25, 2010

Story Circle Network Conference

Next Friday, Stories from the Heart V (Fifth National Women’s Memoir Conference) starts. If you write memoir, have contemplated writing a story of your life, or wonder how you would go about writing such a story, this is the conference for you. I hope you’re signed up. If you are, come by and see me. You can catch me Friday the 5th. I along with other authors and presenters will be doing heart-to-heart coaching from 10 in the morning until noon. You can go online and see the subjects each coach will be covering. I will be available for questions on Blogging and Tweeting, Conducting in-person interviews, and Targeting your interview questions. Most of the coaches are already totally booked. Not mine. I think I should have come up with catchier topics, like how to snap a whip with one flick of the wrist.

Then, on Saturday, I’ll be moderating a panel on Getting Published. What that means is I’ll introduce five fabulous memoir authors who will talk about getting published, then I’ll sit back with my whip in case a fight breaks out. Kidding. There will be no fights; everyone fears my whip.

The most exciting news is that this week, I’m going to introduce you to four of the panelists on the Getting Published panel. Here’s the lineup:

Tuesday: Susan Tweit -- her memoir, Walking Nature Home, has been called "lovely, brave, inspiring" and "a must read." She's the author of eleven other books that draw on her life experiences in one way or another, along with hundreds of articles and essays for magazines and newspapers ranging from Fine Gardening and Popular Mechanics to Audubon and the Los Angeles Times.

Wednesday: Kendra Bonnett, one half of the Women's Memoirs team and is co-author of the new book teaching the Writing Alchemy method (available early 2010 and free with pre-conference workshop registration). When not writing, she teaches and coaches writers. As a marketing executive versed in new technology techniques, she also helps writers build successful marketing and publishing strategies.

Thursday: Laurie Wagner Buyer, author of four collections of poetry, Glass-eyed Paint in the Rain, Red Colt Canyon, Across the High Divide, and Infinite Possibilities: A Haiku Journal, a novel, Side Canyons, and a memoir, Spring's Edge: A Ranch Wife's Chronicles. Another memoir, When I Came West, is forthcoming in January 2010.

Friday: Matilda Butler, the other half of Women's Memoirs, is co-author of the collective memoir Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story, which received a 2008 IPPY national book award. She teaches and coaches writers and is co-author of the new book on Writing Alchemy (available early 2010 and included with pre-conference workshop registration).

This week will provide great opportunity for you to ask questions of some wonderful memoir writers or to read their posts and start thinking about whether you have a story inside to tell. So come back each day. Seriously, come back and visit. Don’t make me get out my whip.
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26 comments:

  1. This sounds a wonderful event. Have fun and I look forward to reading about it.

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  2. What a great week! I'm looking forward to hearing more. I don't think I have a story IN me, about me, but I love hearing about it.

    Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder
    Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen

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  3. Good stuff! I'll be checking in often.

    Marvin D Wilson

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  4. Elizabeth, I read your blog. I know you have a story in you about you.

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  5. That sounds exciting for you!!!

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  6. I am pretty sure I do not have a story IN me, but I do look forward to reading about all those wonderful people.

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  7. Exciting week Helen! I'm not brave enough for memoirs, but I love reading them.

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  8. What an amazing sounding conference! I do write memoir, as well as fiction, and really enjoy the difference between the two, as the stories take shape. To draw on actual living, on memory and emotion to inform my words is so fulfilling. The memoir process draws me in deeper, I think, than the fiction does.

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  9. This sounds interesting, I've never seriously contemplated writing for publication.. memoir or fiction.. Will look out for some of those names..

    BM

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  10. I'm looking forward to reading these posts and learning from them. I can't foresee ever writing a memoir as my life has been somewhat dull. However, learning new things is always a good thing.

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  11. It has crossed my mind to write a true story about me, but, luckily, the thought dies quickly.

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  13. This sounds like a wonderful event. Any memoir that I would attempt to write would be terribly boring, but I have great respect for anyone who can write the events of her life with openess and honesty.

    I look forward to reading about the conference.

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  14. I think that's the key - openness and honesty.

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  15. Reading about this event makes me wish I wrote memoirs!

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  16. Writing memoirs appears kind of scary to me. Either you must have a really spectacular story to tell, or you must be a hell of a good writer, or both.

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  17. You need both - a good story and great writing skills, I believe.

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  18. Hey Helen, I wish I was able to go to that conference! Sounds great!

    My memoir right now is my blog about a very specific time in my life, but I want it to be more one day.

    Before I started writing my mini-memoir, I felt incredibly anxious about revealing certain aspects of my life, but now I feel free.

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  19. Sounds like a great conference - have a great time!

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  20. Best wishes and I hope you don't have to use that whip!

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  21. Have fun. It sounds amazing. I wish I could go. It's a bit far for me though LOL!

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  22. Hi Helen

    I'm new to your blog and fascinated by the sound of this event. unfortunately from here in Australia, I can't make it, but I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future

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  23. Sometimes virtual conferences sound really good. We can all attend, no matter where we are.

    The days not over and already the line-up of posts for memoir week has changed. Tune in tomorrow and see who's here!

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  24. Sounds quite a week, and interesting.

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  25. If you think you don't have a story, or your life is "boring" try writing little essays or journal entries and see if they form a pattern. You may be surprised!

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  26. Love it!

    I must also share with you an event that occurred when I was in Lucerne as a child. The swans were just as beautiful as you described and my family decided we would stop and feed them. Apparently my four year old fingers didn't move fast enough so one of the buggers bit me (can one get bitten by something with a beak?). Many years later I was in Geneva and saw the swans swimming nearby and darned if I didn't exercise a good amount of caution and stay the heck out of biting range. Lesson learned.

    Fun post, Helen. Thanks for sharing!

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