STORY CIRCLE NETWORK

AUSTIN E-LETTER

Vol. 1 Number 9
September 2000

 
• Writing Contest Winners

In the February issue of the SCN Journal we announced the "Carol W. Landherr Life-Writing Competition". We are proud to announce the winners, chosen for their freshness and originality, and the clarity and authenticity of the author’s voice:
• "The Woman Who Changed My Life" by Duffie Bart, Monterey CA
• "The Man Beside Me" by Marie Buckley, Hillsboro OR
• "A Bittersweet Time of Life" by Carolyn Cook, Austin TX
• "Auntie" by Peggy Park Talley, Gonzales TX
To read the winners' pieces, go to our website (www.storycircle.org) and click on "Writing Contest: Winners" - or go there directly via http://www.storycircle.org/Contests/winners_2000.shtml.
 
• Austin Events: Upcoming Programs
• Writing Circle: Writing circles are monthly groups focusing on the techniques of topic writing, designed to expand awareness and understanding of ourselves, and become the authors of our own lives. A new writing circle, led by Carolyn Scheider, will begin on Sept. 27. The circle will meet from 12:00-1:30 on the 4th Wednesday of each month at the Spicewood Springs library. Please contact Carolyn (carjos7@aol.com) if you are interested in joining this circle.

 
• Writing from Life Workshop, led by Susan Albert, Catherine Cogburn, & Judith Helburn. Friday October 6th, 7-9pm and Saturday October 7th, 8:30am-4:30pm, LCRA (3700 Lake Austin Blvd., Austin, TX 78703). Cost is $75. For more information, please go to our website and click on Writing from Life Workshop. Please register soon - space is limited! You can use our online registration form or call 454-9833 for more details.

 
• Story Circle Network benefit booksigning. Wednesday, October 11th, 7-9pm, LCRA Colorado Room (3700 Lake Austin Blvd., Austin, TX 78703). Join us as Susan Albert talks about and signs her latest China Bayles herbal mystery, Mistletoe Man. We hope to see you there!

 
• National Conference 2002

It's meeting time. If you are interested in helping plan this conference, the next meeting will be Tuesday, September 19, from 7:00-8:30 at the home of Judith Helburn. We will consider bids from Austin hotels for a site, finalize the conference name, determine committees, set a timeline for PR. If you can not attend but are interested in participating, let Judith know (thehelburns@sbcglobal.net) and she will get a more detailed agenda to you before the meeting so we can discuss your input. If you would like to attend, please call Judith at 512-454-7229. Her address is 5914 Highland Hills Dr., Austin, TX 78731.
 
• Internet Chapter

Our internet chapter is continuing to grow: we now have 65 members, many of whom are involved in our weekly chats, our writing eCircles, and our reading eCircle.

Our on-line writing workshop is back! This one, entitled "The Writing Process: Composing, Revising, & Editing Your Writing", will be taught by Marie Buckley, who facilitates Story Circles in Hillsboro, Oregon. If you've been wanting feedback on your writing, some help in organizing your ideas, and encouragement to do your best, you'll want to take a look at what Marie is offering: see  http://www.storycircle.org/ICworkshop_wp.shtml for course and enrollment information.

We'd love to have you join our internet chapter! If you're not already a member but are interested in joining the Network, check out the Story Circle web site (www.storycircle.org). To learn more about the Internet Chapter (or to join!), click on "Internet Chapter".
 

• OWL Project

We recently attended the Visions Women's Expo in Dallas to promote the sale and distribution of the Older Women's Legacy Workbook and Facilitator's Manual. The expo brought several thousand women from all over Texas together for two days of information and resource sharing. Many good contacts were made; the most frequently heard comment was, "I've been looking for this kind of program!" We also presented the results of the two year long project at the Texas Conference on Aging on August 21st.

Please visit our website, www.owlcircle.com, for more detailed information about our project, and our current workshop schedule.  To receive a newsletter containing stories from the workshops, please fill out our online form, or call 512/454-9833, or email us at storycircle@storycircle.org.

Part-time position available: Director of Older Women's Legacy Circle Program. Organize workshops in the Austin area through new and established contacts, market and promote the workshops to area women, train facilitators, and administer the program. Compensation dependent upon income generated from the program. Experience in teaching/training, administration, and marketing desired, and involvement in the senior community a plus. Contact: Catherine Cogburn, 512/454-9833 or storycircle@storycircle.org.
 

• Breast Cancer Resource Center

Just a reminder that the Story Circle Network will again be a sponsor of the Breast Cancer Resource Center's major fund raising brunch, to be held on October 1st. Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, is the keynote speaker. We look forward to expanding our collaboration with BCRC in the coming year by offering writing circles for women dealing with breast cancer, not only to capture the stories as they happen, but to provide a loving, supportive environment in which they can fully involve themselves in the healing activity of writing. Visit the BCRC website at http://www.bcrc.org or contact Katherine Palmer at 472-1738 x101 for more information.

This partnership is an example of the kind of relationship the Story Circle Network would like to establish with other women's organizations. If you have some ideas along these lines that we might explore, please email Susan Albert at susanalbert@storycircle.org.
 

• Austin Chapter Reading Circles

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

Interested in meeting with other women to write and share stories? Please join one of our Austin Chapter Writing Circles for support, encouragement, and ideas for life-writing topics. The Circles meet monthly. Katherine Benbow and Judith Helburn lead the Tuesday mid-day group; contact them via email: writingcircle@storycircle.org or phone: 512-472-3502 or 512-454-7229. Daisy Stanley and Patricia Fiske lead the Sunday afternoon group; contact them via email: writingcircle2@storycircle.org or phone: 512-443-9591 or 512-326-8835.  And see above (under Austin Events) for info on our newest Writing Circle, starting later this month. For more information, visit the Austin Chapter Writing Circles web page.
 
• Start your own Reading or Writing Circle

We encourage you to volunteer to start your own writing circle or reading circle. We need more of these!  If you are interested, please email Susan (susanalbert@storycircle.org).  She will get volunteers together and do a few how-to-do-it sessions in early fall.
 
• Speakers Bureau

We are continuing to build our new Speakers Bureau (http://www.storycircle.org/SpeakersBureau), 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).

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. Our Writers' Guidelines are now available on our website: http://www.storycircle.org/WritersGuidelines.shtml. Please email your contributions and ideas to susanalbert@storycircle.org or mail them to The Story Circle Journal, 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.