STORY CIRCLE NETWORK

AUSTIN E-LETTER

Vol. 2 Number 5
May 2001

• Writing from Life Workshop

Please join us at our semi-annual Writing from Life workshop, led by Susan Albert, Carolyn Blankenship, Catherine Cogburn, Susie Flatau, & Judith Helburn. The workshop will be held on Saturday, May 19th and Sunday, May 20th, at the LCRA Complex (3700 Lake Austin Blvd., Austin, TX 78703). Cost is $75 for Story Circle Network members and $95 for non-members. There'll be an optional viewing and discussion of The Midwife's Tale on Saturday night (open to the public) and Susan Albert will lead an additional 3-hour session on Sunday afternoon for those who are interested in facilitating Story Circles (reading and writing circles) and OWL-Circle Memoir Groups. 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.

The Midwife's Tale. You're invited to a special showing and discussion of "The Midwife's Tale," the mystery of an 18th century Maine midwife as it has been pieced together by Pulitzer-prizewinning detective-historian Laurel Urlich. "The Midwife's Tale" is a wonderful example of the difficulties we face as we attempt to understand and appreciate the lives of our foremothers.  Click here for details.
 

• "Stories from the Heart":  National Story Circle Network Conference 2002, February 8-10, Austin, Texas

Our online registration form is now available: go to the conference web page (http://www.storycircle.org/Conference) and click on "Registration". You can also email us (storycircle@storycircle.org) or write to us (Story Circle Network, P.O. Box 500127, Austin, TX 78750-0127) for a brochure.

Remart, Inc, is offering one of a series of art reproductions to all of our participants. Traveling by plane?  Pick one and for the cost of postage and a mailing tube, we'll send it to you. For a sample, go to the conference web page (http://www.storycircle.org/Conference) and click on "Goodies".

Just a reminder that our "Call for Presenters" is out. If you are interested in presenting at our Conference, please see our online form: go to either the main Story Circle website (http://www.storycircle.org) or the conference web page (http://www.storycircle.org/Conference) and click on "Call for Presenters". There will be 18 90-minute sessions on Saturday and Sunday and 1 2-hour pre-conference session on Friday. We have two specific presentations that we need proposals for: copyright and scrapbooking - if you can present on either of these two topics, please fill out our Call for Presenters form!

We have lots of work for volunteers and would love to have your help in creating and conducting this unique conference. We need on-site volunteers for as little as 2-hour stints, introducing session leaders which would be 2 sessions in a row, and lots of little stuff. Questions/comments/offers of help?  Contact Judith Helburn (thehelburns@sbcglobal.net) or see our conference web page (http://www.storycircle.org/Conference.
 

• Member Survey

As we prepare for the national conference in 2002 and other national member benefits and activities, we find we are in need of a few details about our members. Would you be so kind and fill out a brief online questionairre and send it in to us? It will only take a moment of your time, and will benefit us all in being able to serve you. You can find the survey on our website: click on Member Survey, or go there directly via this url: http://www.storycircle.org/frmsurvey.shtml. Thank you!
 
• Internet Chapter

The Internet chapter now has 114 members! We have just formed our 10th Writing eCircle. If you're a Story Circle member and would like to join our cyber-circle, click on  Internet Chapter. If you're not a member but are interested in joining the Network, check out the Story Circle web site (www.storycircle.org).
 
• Austin OWL-Circle Workshops Available Now

We're delighted to tell you that our Austin OWL-Circle Memoir Project has moved to its second phase, under the direction of Karen Leach, our new coordinator. We will be using the workbook developed, tested, and revised during our grant-funded phase, and expanding our offerings across the Austin area. Each memoir workshop consists of five 2 1/2 hour sessions, over five weeks, led by a trained and experienced facilitator--all for the very low price of $50 for each participant (that's only $10 per session!), plus a $5 materials fee. If you know of a church, women's group, or senior residence that would like to sponsor an OWL-Circle workshop, or a woman who would like to participate in one, please telephone Karen at  512-477-3155 or email her at leachcom@ix.netcom.com. If you would like to facilitate one of these groups let Karen know of your interest. Facilitators are paid, but their greatest reward is in helping women to explore their lives. Visit our website for more information: www.owlcircle.com.
 
• National OWL-Circle Workshop Kits Available Now

We invite the rest of the world to participate in our Older Women's Legacy Circle project. Our field-tested OWL-Circle kits are now available. If you know of individual women, women's groups, or churches outside the Austin area that might be interested in leading or sponsoring a five-week OWL-Circle Memoir Workshop, please send their names and contact information to owlcircle@owlcircle.com or phone 512/454-9833, and we'll send them a brochure and information about purchase. The OWL-Circle kits, including the right to duplicate the workbooks, may be purchased for $150, or $100 if the purchaser is a member of theStory Circle Network, plus $5 shipping. (Remember, the workshop kits are available only to those outside of the Austin area. Locally, Karen Leach will be coordinating the workshops for Story Circle.) Visit our website for more information: www.owlcircle.com.
 
• Austin Chapter Reading Circles

We've expanded the scope of our Reading Circles to include fiction--fiction by women about women.  Please come and join us the first Tuesday of the month at the Old Quarry Branch of the Austin Public Library.  All Austin Chapter members are welcome to participate free of charge in this new Reading Circle to be led by Penny Appleby.  Go to  http://www.storycircle.org/Reading_Circle/rc3_sched01.html to see suggested list of books (and discussion questions) for the first six months and to  http://www.storycircle.org/graphics/QUARRY_map.gif to get directions to Old Quarry Branch. If you are interested in joining, please contact Penny Appleby (penny.appleby@sbcglobal.net).
 
• 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:
• Judith Helburn leads the Tuesday mid-day group; contact her via email: writingcircle@storycircle.org or phone: 512-454-7229. We will circle around "The Road not taken: other scenarios."
• Daisy Stanley leads the Sunday afternoon group; contact her via email: writingcircle2@storycircle.org or phone: 512-443-9591.
• Carolyn Scheider leads the Thursday mid-day group; contact her via email: writingcircle3@storycircle.org  or phone: 512-258-8635. With Mother’s Day in May, it’s time to reflect on motherhood memories.  The dictionary says a mother can be a woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child.  Is there someone in your life, other than your birth mother, who has nurtured or mothered you that you would like to write about?
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).
 
• Your Contributions

Share your life. If you are a member of the Story Circle Network, please share your story with us. Check the Journal for details, or click on http://www.storycircle.org/WritersGuidelines.shtml.

Share your love. We offer free memberships to women in prison and reduced-rate memberships to women in need. If you would like to help these women find their voices and share their stories, go here: http://www.storycircle.org/Donations and then click on "Our Sugar Bowl." (You don't have to be a member to contribute to this important program.)
 

• Journal Back Issues Available

The Story Circle Journal is a unique, exciting publication that documents women's efforts to tell their personal stories. If you're collecting the Journal, now is the time to make sure your set is complete! To purchase the copies you're missing, go to our website and click on "Buy Story Circle Journals".  You may choose to buy on-line through PayPals, or you can print out the page and send it to us with your check. Either way, this is an important opportunity to catch up on the issues you've missed.

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) in the U.S., $30 in Canada/Mexico, and $36 elsewhere. Members receive four issues of the Story Circle Journal, a 16-24 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) 2001 by Story Circle Network, Inc.
Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this newsletter only in its entirety, including this copyright notice.