STORY CIRCLE NETWORK

AUSTIN E-LETTER

Vol. 1 Number 4
April 2000

• Internet Chapter

Our new Internet Chapter, which offers information and guidance for life-writers, articles and interviews, a place to publish your writing, a bulletin board and chat room, and on-line classes and workshops, is growing!  We now have 14 members! Susan Albert's six-week on-line "Writing From Life" Workshop is underway. If you're interested in joining the Network, check out the Story Circle web site (www.storycircle.org). To learn more about the Internet Chapter and the on-line writing workshop (or to join!), click on "Internet Chapter".
 
• Austin Chapter Reading Circles

There are a few spaces left in the Evening Reading Circle.  If you are interested, please contact Susan Albert (susanalbert@storycircle.org).
 
• Austin Chapter Writing Circles

Writing doesn't need to be a lonely affair! Team up with other members of our Austin Chapter Writing Circles for support, encouragement, and ideas for life-writing topics. The Circles meet monthly. For information, go to the Austin Chapter Writing Circles web page.
 
• Speakers Bureau

The Story Circle Network now has a Speakers Bureau!  It is a listing of Story Circle members who are available to speak to your group on a variety of topics dealing with women, writing, women's issues, women's health, etc. If you are a member of the Story Circle Network and you are interested in joining our list of speakers, please email the office (storycircle@storycircle.org).  You can take a peek at our still-under-construction web pages here: http://www.storycircle.org/SpeakersBureau
 
• National Conference 2002

Judith Helburn's Conference Planning Committee has met twice to discuss plans for our National Conference, to be held in February, 2002. So far, they've come up with a possible theme ("Letters from the Heart") and three different tracks:
• "Serious Stuff" [writing skills, publishing, starting a Story Circle...]
• "Writing Your Life" [legacy, memoirs. personal growth, historical perspective...]
• "Off the Track" [including music and writing, drama and writing, creativity...]
Stay tuned for future developments!  Please get in touch with Judith if you'd like to help with the planning.
 
• Book Study Group

Susan Albert is planning a special event for Austin Chapter members only: a four week study group exploring a journal from an 18th century midwife in New England: A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. It will meet on a week night each week in June. This is an important book that provides us a direct connection to the realities of being a woman two hundred years ago, and is a new approach to defining past cultures. Susan will be combining the text with discussion questions and viewing the PBS documentary produced about Martha Ballard. We will have more details in the May edition of this eLetter. You can also call the Story Circle office (454-9833) for more information.

If you are a member of the Story Circle Network, please think about how you can contribute to the Journal. You could send us your story for publication in True Words from Real Women, but we also welcome your contributions of women's quotations, brief book reviews, and life-writing tips and ideas. Please note that we are also looking for contributors to our Journaling Page and Writing for Health section. Please email your contributions and ideas to susanalbert@storycircle.org or mail them to PO Drawer M, Bertram TX 78605.

Are you signed up for the National Story Circle e-Letter?

We are now publishing two monthly e-Letters. The National e-letter brings you writing tips, quotes, and book reviews, while the Austin-area e-Letter brings you news about Story Circle events and activities in the Austin, TX area. To subscribe to the National e-Letter, either go to http://SCN_eLetter_National.listbot.com and enter your email address, or send email to SCN_eLetter_National-subscribe@listbot.com

The Story Circle Network is an organization made up of women who want to explore their lives and their souls through life-writing -- writing that focuses on our personal experience, through memoirs and autobiographies, in diaries and journals, in personal essays, in poetry. The Network is chartered as a 501c(3) organization. Your dues and other contributions are tax-deductible. As a non-profit, we welcome your gifts to support our work. Please be generous!

Annual membership is $24 (prorated at $2/month). Members receive four issues of the Story Circle Journal, a 16-page quarterly filled with writing ideas, members' writing, interviews, articles, and book reviews. To join, fill out our on-line form (click on "Join SCN" on the Story Circle website) and send a check to

NOTE: If you received this email from a friend and would like to join our Austin mailing list, either go to http://SCN_eLetter_Austin.listbot.com and enter your email address, or send email to SCN_eLetter_Austin-subscribe@listbot.com

Compiled and edited by Peggy Moody
pmoody@pobox.com
(We're sending this in HTML. If you're missing some links, email us and we'll tell you how to access the information.)

Copyright (c) 2000 by Story Circle Network, Inc.
Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter only in its entirety, including this copyright notice.