Confirmed Presenters
Under Construction
Joyce Boatright (The Woodlands, TX) is a former journalist, columnist, editor and college administrator who found her heart's desire: teaching writing to students of all ages. She teaches the craft and the creativity of writing deeply, using her heart's ear to listen to participants.
For the past six years, on Wednesday mornings, she meets with 18 to 20 women in the Academy of Lifelong Learning. Joyce is not paid extra for this assignment—she considers it to be her service to the institution, and her privilege. The women in her class are known as the OWLs, the Older Women's Legacy. In 2009 the LSCS Foundation funded the anthology "Work of Our Fathers." The publication contains stories taken from the memories of women in their late 60s and early 80s, remembering when they were little girls. These are simple but powerful stories of the men who provided for their families during the Great Depression and after World War II.
Joyce is a recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award from Lone Star College System where she serves on the faculty as a full-time professor.
The workshop "Life Lessons from the Crossroads" is the core of a course Joyce taught at the Carl Jung Center in Houston.
Presentation: Life Lessons from the Crossroads
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Kendra Bonnett (Milbridge, ME) is one half of the Women's Memoirs team, an award-winning author of more than 300 magazine articles, founding editor or two magazines and author/ghostwriter of seven books. She is the co-author of a forthcoming book teaching the revolutionary Writing Alchemy method (available first quarter 2011). When not writing, she teaches and coaches writers. Kendra, a 30+ year marketing executive versed in new technology techniques, brings her insight and knowledge to writers, helping them build successful marketing and publishing strategies for their books.
Presentation: Pre-Conference Workshop: It's 10 pm, Do You Know Where Your Story Is? Seven Steps to Successful Story Structure; Expanding Your Publishing Options: eBooks, PODs, Self-Publishing, Oh My!
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Since writing her first personal essay upon her family's return from a trip to Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Virginia, when she was in second grade, Betsy Boyd (Maryville, TN) has been fascinated with writing as a way of capturing her life experiences and weaving them into a rich fabric of insight and meaning. One of Betsy's favorite quotes is Will Rogers. "Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is." Putting that sentiment into practice, Betsy has indulged in such adventures as moving cross-country in mid-career, eHarmony dating and incorporating alternative therapies in her treatment for breast cancer. Her gift and life's work, facilitating others' personal growth as well as nurturing her own, has led her to careers in teaching and in counseling, her writing primarily reserved for chronicling personal and professional experiences. For the past thirteen years, her great joy has been counseling community college students to get in touch with, find meaning in, honor and share their stories. Betsy practices what she teaches: as a new blogger, she explores life's physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational journeys and the treasures she gains from them. Betsy is delighted to be attending her first Story Circle Network conference and to be presenting with her friend and writing buddy, Cindy Flora.
Presentation: Of Journeys and Treasures
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Mitzi Boyd (Fort Worth, TX) is a 5th generation Texan whose artistic passions have centered on textiles, quilting, and sewing since the age of nine. Her love of life writing (fabricating!) began while traveling extensively and raising two (now grown) sons while living in four different states. Her stories utilize her observations of life, travels, pets, and she expands her stories—"beyond words"—with visuals. She will share many examples of collages, art quilts, handmade books, scrap booking, and encourages attendees to bring their own projects to share!
Presentation: Beyond Words
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Mary Daniels Brown (Ballwin, MO) has a doctorate in psychology with a focus on narrative identity theory and life stories. A former college English instructor, she has nearly 30 years. experience as a writer and editor. She enjoys facilitating life-writing workshops, especially for older adults.
Presentation: The People on the Page
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Matilda Butler (Gilroy, CA), the other half of Women's Memoirs, is an award-winning author of more than 50 articles, has contributed chapters to several anthologies, including The New Papyrus (Microsoft Press), and co-authored the award-winning Women and the Mass Media. She is co-author (with Kendra Bonnett) of the collective memoir Rosie's Daughters: The "First Woman To" Generation Tells Its Story, which received a 2008 IPPY national book award as well as three other book awards. She teaches and coaches writers and is co-author of forthcoming book on Writing Alchemy (available first quarter 2012). Matilda, a social scientist and high tech entrepreneur, applies her knowledge to memoir writing, helping women tell their life stories in new and powerful ways.
Presentation: Pre-Conference Workshop: It's 10 pm, Do You Know Where Your Story Is? Seven Steps to Successful Story Structure; Writing Alchemy: New, Fast, Fun, Cool, Quick-Start Method
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Marilyn H. Collins (Rogers, AR) is an award-winning author of nonfiction books and over 100 magazine/newspaper features. Write History Right, her latest book, is a practical guide for nonfiction writers. She is a frequent conference speaker for both nonfiction and fiction writers. Her focus is on writers of memoir and family history. Her local/regional history books include: The Old Burying Ground, Beaufort, North Carolina; Rogers: The Town the Frisco Built; and a pictorial history, Rogers, Arkansas.
Collins is author of a new eBook series—Step-by-Step Writing Guides: Bring the Past to Life: You Can Write a Book about Your Family, The Art & Business of Writing Local or Regional History, and The Timeline Process: Set Up Your Book in Four Easy Steps. Coming in 2012—Whispered Tales: Discover Stories in Cemetery Art & Words. She is editor of a new online newsletter, Proficient Writer NEWS and offers individual coaching for nonfiction writers. Marilyn also leads writing workshops for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) with the University of Arkansas.
She held executive positions with the Washington National Cathedral Association, Beaufort Historical Association (NC), and the American Association of University Women. Her sole proprietorship, Wilson Collins Marketing & Management Consultants, in the Washington, DC area and in North Carolina worked with other creative groups in marketing for economic development councils, developers, small businesses, and nonprofits. Collins is currently owner of CHS Publishing.
Presentation: Memoir Writing: Brighten Your Leaf on the Family Tree;
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Kate Farrell (Sebastopol, CA) earned a Masters degree from UC-Berkeley; taught language arts in high schools, colleges, and universities; founded the Word Weaving storytelling project with a grant from the Zellerbach Family Fund in collaboration with the California Department of Education and published numerous educational materials. She is founder of Wisdom Has a Voice memoir project and editor of the new anthology, Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter's Memories of Mother, 2011. Visit her website and blog.
Presentation: Pearls of Wisdom: Memoirs about Mother
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A self-professed dilettante, albeit an earnest one, Cindy Flora (Clearwater, FL) enjoys a variety of interests and methods of expression: dabbling in art, arts and crafts, dancing, photography, the southwest, and writing. As an educator, she finds it very rewarding to combine those interests and methods, whenever possible, to assist others in finding and developing their own. As a writer, a friend, a wife and mother, she finds inspiration and, gratefully, humor here and there and everywhere especially in unexpected places and moments. She particularly enjoys traveling and adventuring with friends like co-presenter, Betsy Boyd, and family, jotting down potential story and essay titles and ideas along the way. She has enjoyed writing since her halcyon junior high days penning wild misadventures for her friends with the likes of John Steed, Barnabas Collins and Lord Sinclair, to name a few. A journalist at heart with a fondness for writers like Joyce Maynard and Anne Lamott, she enjoys working on newsletters and has been the past editor for an eclectic collection of local publications including Arts & Letters for the Pinellas Council of English Teachers, The Sea Breeze for St. Petersburg Historical Society and Paws Print for the St. Petersburg Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and is currently the editor for Dimensions of Diversity, a publication for the multicultural student leadership program she coordinates for Pinellas County Schools. She has masters degrees in Composition and Rhetoric and Educational Leadership. Because she is decidedly random in her pursuits and has been spending spare time bonding with JP, her new Cherokee jeep of a certain age, she has only just begun her blog.
Presentation: Of Journeys and Treasures
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Leia Francisco (Kerrville, TX) is a Board Certified Coach and Certified Journal Facilitator who has taught a wide range of writing modalities from college composition and business writing to therapeutic writing strategies that help people grow and heal. She authored Writing through Transitions, the book used in her coaching and online classes for the Center for Journal Therapy and the Story Circle Network, and she co-founded the Kerrville, Texas Story Circle.
Panelist: The Power of the Circle
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B. Lynn Goodwin (Danville, CA) is the author of You Want Me To Do What?: Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing). Her stories and articles have been published many places including Voices of Caregivers; Hip Mama; the Oakland Tribune; the Contra Costa Times; the Danville Weekly; Staying Sane When You're Dieting; Small Press Review; Dramatics Magazine; Career; We Care; and The Sun.
A former teacher, she's conducted workshops and written reviews for Story Circle Network. She also writes for StudySync and Caregiver Village. She facilitates writing workshops and publishes Writer Advice.
Presentation: Let the Words Spill Forth
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photo by
James Bland
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After a successful 25-year career in administrative office management and business development, Jeanne Guy (Austin, TX) of Jeanne Guy Workshops re-storied her life. As an educator and writer for over 15 years, she now helps people explore and change their lives. In her former life, she managed architects. Now she's married to one and says she needs all the help she can get. And she's found it—through re-storying her life daily.
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Witty, insightful and knowledgeable, Jeanne uses her irreverent sense of humor, coupled with her encouraging and experiential facilitation style, to create a safe space for participants to reshape their lives through the power and practice of journal writing.
Jeanne is a graduate of Indiana University and Leadership Austin, and is a Story Circle Network board member. She is currently writing Gone: A Memoir, the story of how her children were stolen from her and how she stole them back.
As the Great Self-Proclaimed Re-Story Expert, it's her goal in life to hear people say, "That woman is weird but she does seem to be enjoying herself."
Visit her website.
Presentation: Pre-Conference Workshop: The Power of Your Story: Rethink, Reframe, Re-Story Your Life
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Donna M. Johnson (Austin, TX) is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, a recent memoir heralded by the New York Times, O Magazine, Texas Monthly, and People Magazine. She has written for Austin Monthly, The Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman. Donna was awarded a writing residency by the Ragdale Foundation (Lake Forest, IL) in Spring 2009 and won the Mayborn Creative Nonfiction Prize for the Holy Ghost Girl manuscript in progress in 2007. She lives in Austin with her husband, the poet and author Kirk Wilson.
Presentation: Rewrite Your Life: How to Transform the Tragic, the Ordinary and the Dull-as-Dirt into Compelling Memoir
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Pat LaPointe (Prospect Heights, IL) has been a member of SCN since 2003. She facilitates two writing e-circles, a free range circle and has facilitated OWL circles. She is the Chair of the Membership Committee and serves as President of SCN.
Panelist: The Power of the Circle
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Len Leatherwood (Beverly Hills, CA) is currently a private writing teacher in Beverly Hills, working with children and adults daily on fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir and personal essay. She has been honored for the past three years as a nationally award-winning writing teacher by the Scholastic Artists and Writers Contest, the oldest and most prestigious writing contest for youth in the United States. Len has just completed her first novel, To Love a Brother, which she shifted from memoir to fiction, and is hard at work on her second. In addition, she has had several flash fiction/memoir pieces published in Long Story Short, flashquake, A Cup of Comfort Cookbook, the 2008, 2010, and 2011 editions of SCN's True Words Anthology, and All Things Girl. Check out Len's 20 Minutes a Day efforts on her blog.
Presentation: How 20 Minutes a Day Can Help You Become a Better Writer
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Susan Lincoln (Austin, TX), our Saturday lunch entertainer, began her career in opera and vocal performance at UT Austin, but soon branched into a broader understanding of music as a source of healing power. After a pivotal experience at the German Abbey of 12th century mystic and composer, Hildegard of Bingen, Susan committed herself to helping women heal through the power of their own voices. She returned to Austin and founded the Hilde Girls, spirit-song-circles of women she leads through Hildegard's music and healing wisdom. A gifted and charismatic teacher, Susan facilitates workshops, leads retreats and works with individuals using sound and vibration to heal. She has taught on the faculty of The School of Conscious Harmony, Sedona, and The Journey School, New Orleans.
Visit her website.
Presentation: Saturday Luncheon Entertainer: topic tba
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Barbara Miller (Austin, TX) is a retired Christian Educator, writer and artist. She is a long time member of a face-to-face circle, currently facilitates a circle and has been an SCN member since 2000. She is Circle Coordinator for the SCN Board.
Presentation: Panel: The Power of the Circle
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Focusing on parenting, adoption, special needs, and tweens and tweens, Judy Miller (Zionsville, IN) has been writing and blogging for since 2008. Check out her posts at The International Mom and Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond. She coordinates and teaches parent preparation education to parents who are in the adoption process as well as working as a support specialist—assisting parents and their children with information and techniques to equip and empower them during challenging times.
Judy has appeared on MomTV's Adoption Angles and TogiNet's Adoption: Journey to Motherhood. She spoke at the Parenting Summit and presented at the Symposium 2011 Opening Adoption: Realities, Possibilities, and Challenges in Richmond, VA and the Crossroads of America Adoption Conference in Indianapolis, IN.
Judy is the Adoption Pro for Parenting Squad's ProSquad. Her work appears in adoption and parenting magazines and are featured in A Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families (Adams Media), Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be? (EMK Press), Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom (Chicken Soup for the Soul), Sensational Journeys (Future Horizons), and Women Writing on Family (The Key Publishing House Inc., January 2012).
She is the author of What To Expect From Your Adopted Tween.
Presentation: Creating an Awesome and Sustaining Blog
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Regina Moser (Austin, TX) wears many hats and is professionally known as a Job Search Coach, Yoga Instructor and Spiritual Director. She gratefully shares a spiritual practice that she created that encourages listening to your body along with gentle movements that focus on flexibility and balance. Regina has practiced Yoga since 2001 in the Hatha tradition and completed her training at YOGA YOGA in 2006, at the 200 hour level and is registered with Yoga Alliance. She delights in creating mini workshops that focus on recognizing the power of simple movement and breath awareness to decrease stress and encourage healthy bodies. Regina feels her personal mission is to encourage growth in herself and others; she is forever encouraging people to write and tell their stories. She writes weekly prompts for SCN Lifewriters, sharing Eco-tips and Local Cooking every Thursday. Regina was first published in 2000 in Guideposts Book Answered Prayers and in 2007 in Story Circle Network's Kitchen Table Stories.
Presentation: Keep Your Day Going With Restorative, Relaxing Chair Yoga
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Linda Joy Myers (Richmond, CA), Ph.D., MFA, is the President and founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, an Instructor at Writers Digest, Co-President of the Women's National Book Association, San Francisco branch, and past president of the California Writers Club, Marin branch. Linda is the author of The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story, Becoming Whole, and Don't Call Me Mother, which won the BAIPA Gold Medal prize. Linda's next book is Truth or Lie: On the Cusp of Memoir and Fiction. She gives workshops nationally, through NAMW, Story Circle Network, and the Therapeutic Writing Institute, and helps people capture their stories through coaching, editing, and online workshops. Visit her website.
Presentation: Moments of Being: Writing a Spiritual Memoir
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Fran Reynolds (Columbia, MO), Ed.D. a native Californian has been in love with reading and writing as long as she can remember. She teaches writing to international students at the University of Missouri-Columbia and before that English and history for many years at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Missouri. Her degrees are from UCLA, California State University at Northridge and the University of Missouri-Columbia. She facilitates two adult memoir writing groups. One group just published their ten year anthology.
Presentation: KISS: Keep It Short & Simple!
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Marlene Samuels (Chicago, IL) is an author, sociologist, and researcher. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Chicago in the Social Sciences. Her writing focus is memoir and creative non-fiction; her research interests include adoption, mid-life regrets and action, and current problems in contemporary America. Marlene authored an academic book about law school and career success, and co-authored and edited The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival.
Marlene's writing spans a broad range of topics and has appeared widely including in Lilith Magazine, Chicago Tribune, ReadyMade Magazine, University of Iowa Summer Writers' Anthology, Story Circle Anthology, among others. Currently, she's completing an auto-biographical short story collection, several of which have appeared in journals including Hugo House Journal, Story Circle True Words Anthology, OurEcho.com, A Long Story Short, and Stories-In-Common. Her story, "Sorrel Summer," was a finalist in Hugo House's competition, "Writing About War," and won first place in the Family Writing Project, OurEcho.com. Marlene contributes to the blog, AROHO Speaks: Writer to Writer interview project, and co-hosts the culinary blog, Expendable Edibles.
A popular speaker and writing instructor, Marlene has presented at the Sun Valley Writers' Conference, Story Circle Network Conference, KIPP Charter School, The National Holocaust Museum, Brandeis University author luncheon, and book clubs.
Presentation: Our Stories, True Stories: Research for Memoir and How To Do It
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Carolyn Scarborough (Austin, TX)'s passion as a writing coach is supporting women to tap into their deepest wisdom and then get it out onto the page in memoirs, novels, non-fiction books and blogs. Her style is both nurturing and empowering, allowing writers to feel a greater sense of safety as they move beyond their blocks, fears and limits into greater ease and joy.
As owner of Backyard Pearls, LLC, she leads women on writing retreats, coaches them via teleclasses, and also meets with writers one on one to move them forward with their heart-based writing projects.
Her most recent book is Backyard Pearls: Cultivating Wisdom and Joy in Everyday Life. She is an award-winning magazine writer, former travel writer for Southern Living magazine and editor of international publications including The Ritz-Carlton Magazine. More than 500 of her articles have been published. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and is a professionally trained life coach and board member of the Austin chapter of the International Coach Federation. For more information, see her website.
Presentation: Harnessing the Present Moment for Deep, Authentic Writing
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Jan Seale (McAllen, TX), the 2012 Texas Poet Laureate, lives in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Jan's work includes seven volumes of poems, two short story collections, two books of nonfiction, and a textbook. Her latest books are Nape, poems from Ink Brush Press, and Appearances, a collection of short stories published by Lamar University Press. She has held a fellowship in creative writing with the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches creative and memoir writing in various local, state, and national settings.
Presentation: Juicy Writing With Fruits & Veggies
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Suzanne Sherman (Sebastopol, CA) has taught memoir for 15 years, as adjunct and visiting faculty at colleges and universities in California and Oregon, for Story Circle Network and independently, online and in weekly local workshops. Suzanne creates a safe and supportive space to help writers shape compelling stories, enliven narratives, and start or complete a collection of the stories of their lives. Since 1983 she has been a book and magazine editor, a ghostwriter, writing coach, and publishing consultant, writing book proposals and helping connect writers with agents or publishers. Her own writing has been published most recently in The Sun Magazine (Feb 2011, Jan 2012), Story Circle Journal and Story Circle E-Extra! She is currently at work on a collective memoir about girlhood throughout a century. Suzanne has journaled many thousands of pages since she was 10 years old; she considers writing her first language. Visit her blog and website.
Presentation: Writing the Truth: Issues, Ethics & Poetic License
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Amber Lea Starfire (Napa, CA) is a teacher, editor, author, and Program Coordinator for SCN's Online Classes program. Her passion is to help others tell their stories, make meaning of their lives, and access their inner wisdom and creativity through the act of writing. Amber earned her Masters in Education at Stanford, and has taught online and at community colleges and businesses for over twenty years. Author of Week by Week: A Year's Worth of Journaling Prompts and Meditations, her work has appeared in Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter's Memories of Mother, Enchanted Spirit, the Conscious Mind Journal, Inner Sanctum, and Voice of Adoptees. Visit Amber's website.
Presentation: Journal Writing for Memoir: Capturing the Past, Present, & Future
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Gail Straub (West Hurley, NY) is the co-author of the best selling Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life As You Want It, and the author of the critically acclaimed The Rhythm of Compassion as well as the award winning feminist memoir Returning to My Mother's House. Considered a leading authority on empowerment, she co-directs the Empowerment Institute a school for transformative leadership. The Institute's certified graduates from cultures as diverse as Afghanistan, Africa, India, and Asia are implementing the empowerment model in education, business, health, hip-hop, women's empowerment, and social change. Over the past thirty years she has trained thousands of people worldwide in empowerment, engaged spirituality, and the wisdom of the feminine. Read more on her website.
Presentation: Keynote Speaker: topic tba; The Wedding of Fact and Imagination: The Essential Partnership in Writing Life Story
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Susan J. Tweit (Salida, CO)'s 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. Visit her web site to sample her books and see where she's teaching and speaking; read her blog to see the insights she finds in everyday life.
Presentation: Sunday Luncheon Speaker: topic tba
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