Writing with Heart: Five Easy Steps to Writing with Emotion, Energy and Color [Lake LBJ Room]
Matilda Butler, Gilroy CA, & Kendra Bonnett, Milbridge ME
The goal of every writer is to engage her readers and draw them into the story. But that takes more than good narrative. To engage a reader's heart, you must write with heart. You need emotion, sensory detail, energy and more. You need to apply the techniques of good fiction and creative non-fiction writing to your memoir or personal history. But with so many elements to choose from, how do you select? How do you know you've found the best way to tell your story? Our Writing Alchemy process will make this easy and natural. Join us for an afternoon of writing magic that will transform your writing process forever. Bring your idea for a memoir vignette, and you'll leave this workshop with the start of a beautifully crafted story. read more...

1. Finding Our Voices:

   Writing Our Cultural Traditions: [Lake Travis Room]
   Linda Wisniewski (Doylestown, PA)

   Wherever your ancestors came from, they are an important part of your story. We will read and discuss poetry and memoirs from several different cultures. Then, using simple exercises, we will practice writing to record our family, cultural and personal stories.

2. Putting It Together: Nuts & Bolts:

   Show, Don't Tell: How to Turn a Ho-Hum Memoir into a Humdinger: [Lake LBJ Room]
   Dawn Thurston (Villa Park, CA)

   This workshop helps you breathe life into the people, places, and events in your life story. You will learn how to develop the people in your story so they feel three-dimensional and real; recreate places, events, and eras as they were in "their day"; write honestly about family skeletons and other sensitive issues; and communicate feelings in a believable, engaging way.

3. Putting Hearts on Paper:

   Difficult Memories: Finding Voice and Grace in the "Hard Stuff": [Lake Austin Room]
   Susan J. Tweit (Salida, CO)

   How do we handle the hard stuff in our life stories? How do we write about the memories that are controversial, painful, or just no fun to remember? We'll practice writing techniques that strengthen our voices and reveal the grace and wisdom to be found even in hard times.

4. Storytelling: Ways and Means:

   Getting the "Picture" on Our Lives: [ELC]
   Pat Flathouse (Austin, TX); Jane Ross (Austin, TX); Aditi Worcester (Austin, TX)

   This workshop will demonstrate ways to document life stories on video/audio in an interview-style format, with an emphasis on how a third-person perspective can lead to a deeper narration of life experiences. Participants will learn how to create a questionnaire, manage basic video concepts, and develop simple strategies to evoke latent memories.

1. Finding Our Voices:

   Panning for Gold: Using Imagery and Metaphor to Enrich Your Memoir: [ELC Room]
   Heather Summerhayes Cariou (West New York, NJ)

   We will use specific prompts and exercises to make imagery and metaphor readily accessible and yet plunge deeply and swiftly into story. You.ll compose at least two fine pieces to use in your memoir.

2. Putting It Together: Nuts & Bolts:

   Panel: Getting Published: [Lake LBJ Room]
   Moderator: Helen Ginger (Austin, TX)
   Panelists: Kendra Bonnett (Milbridge, ME); Matilda Butler (Gilroy, CA); Laurie Wagner Buyer (Llano, TX); Susan J. Tweit (Salida, CO); Linda Wisniewski (Doylestown, PA)

3. Putting Hearts on Paper:

   Details, Details: Getting to the Heart of the Matter: [Lake Austin Room]
   Patricia Page (Austin, TX)

   In this workshop we'll learn how to use the details of our outer lives as a way into the memories, emotions, and thoughts of our inner selves. We'll combine observation skills with the liberating experience of freewriting.

4. Storytelling: Ways and Means:

   Story-Poems: A Tool for Writing Our Stories: [Lake Travis]
   Janet Riehl (St. Louis, MO)

   The story-poem is an often-overlooked form for telling our stories. We'll discuss the genre and its unique niche in storytelling. Participants will compare samples of prose and story-poetry and practice turning their own prose into a story-poem.

1. Finding Our Voices:

   Once Upon a Time: Family Stories: [Lake Travis Room]
   Joyce Boatright (Conroe, TX)

   We will discuss and practice ways to involve everyone in the family, especially the children and grandchildren, in finding the words and images to record the events and values of family life, at the heart of your family's history.

2. Putting It Together: Nuts & Bolts:

   Telling Your Story: From Life Experience to Personal Essay: [ELC Room]
   Kathy Sparrow (Rio Hondo, TX)

   The personal essay is an increasingly popular form. In this workshop, we will identify the seeds of experience that can grow into essays, develop the details that turn memories into thought- and emotion-provoking connections with an audience, and recognize the value of using our personal experiences to share life's lessons. We'll also take a nuts-and-bolts look at essay construction.

3. Putting Hearts on Paper:

   Structures of Memoir: The Narrative and Emotional Arcs: [Lake Austin Room]
   Linda Joy Myers (Richmond, CA)

   A longer memoir requires us to focus on what happened (narrative arc) and how it affected us (emotional arc). We will explore ways of finding the structures that knit together the plot and the emotional impact of events and learn how to construct a traditional story structure.

4. Storytelling: Ways and Means:

   Writing Promptly: [Lake LBJ Room]
   Judy Whelley (Dayton, OH); Becca Taylor (Pinehurst, TX)

   Lifewriting can be both pleasure and pain. Much as we want to do it, sometimes we can't—or won't. Prompts can remind us to show up (promptly) to write, inspire us to write, nudge us to write, and keep us writing. This light-hearted session is designed to be thought provoking and supportive.

1. Finding Our Voices:

   Panel: Finding Our Voices Online: [ELC Room]
   Moderator: Linda Hoye (Auburn, WA)
   Panelists: Nita Lou Bryant (Austin, TX); Rhonda Esakov (Georgetown, TX); Kara Flathouse (Amarillo, TX); Becky Lane (Wimberley, TX); Judy Miller (Zionsville, IN); Becca Taylor (Pinehurst, TX)

2. Putting It Together: Nuts & Bolts:

   The Art of the Personal Profile: Telling Another's Story: [Lake LBJ Room]
   Lisa Shirah-Hiers (Austin, TX)

   This workshop is designed for those who want to write about family members for family members or write profiles of community members for magazines. We will learn how to conduct an interview, find the "theme behind the person," structure the piece, balance paraphrase with quotation, and research potential markets.

3. Putting Hearts on Paper:

   One Way Writing Heals: Changing the Story You Tell: [Lake Austin Room]
   Lianne Mercer (Fredericksburg, TX)

   Using humor and imagination, we will retell Cinderella's story from different points of view, examining ways that writing can heal when the story changes. We'll take 20 minutes to write a brief story of our own, then rewrite, to see the difference when the story is altered.

4. Storytelling: Ways and Means:

   Research for Memoir and Why It Matters: [Lake Travis Room]
   Marlene Samuels (Chicago, IL)

   In memoir, research is the key to accurately portraying places, times, and context. Sources range from public material (newspapers, the internet) to private (personal interviews, private letters). We'll look at handouts describing timeline format, story pyramid forms, and research bibliography sources and identify research needs.

1. Finding Our Voices:

   What Are You Thinking?! Orchestrating the Chorus of Voices in Your Head: [Lake Travis Room]
   Jeanne Guy (Austin, TX)

   Through music and journaling, we'll look at the dissonant notes in our heads and create a melody. We'll replace the off-key Critical Voice by creating an affirming Wise Voice chorus. You'll learn how to make a shift in your thinking—and it'll be music to your ears.

2. Putting It Together: Nuts & Bolts:

   Lifewriting Online: Blogging for the Faint of Heart: [ELC Room]
   Katherine Misegades (Fort Wayne, IN)

   If you're thinking of starting a blog, this is the workshop for you. We will demystify the technical processes of setting up and maintaining a basic blog. Beginning bloggers will learn how to personalize their blogs, compile and share their public thoughts, and make use of other media on their blogs.

3. Putting Hearts on Paper:

   Celebrate Your Journey: [Lake Austin Room]
   Dawn Espelage (Vinton, VA)

   This journal writing workshop is designed to inspire participants to explore their inner journeys by enhancing a sense of self and worth, clarifying values, and honoring life's blessings.

4. Storytelling: Ways and Means:

   Mining First Experiences: Writing Techniques for Reviving Memories: [Lake LBJ Room]
   Brit Williams (Austin, TX)

   Our first experiences can be a catalyst for reviving memories. We will use various techniques to tap into our own remembered material. You will leave with at least four starting points and the encouragement and confidence to tell your own story, in your own voice.

It's Saturday night in Austin TX—what would you like to do after you've enjoyed a fine dinner at one of Austin's many great restaurants? Well, you might take in a film, or visit Austin's disco district (the River City is widely known as the Live Music Capital of the World).

Or we could all hang out together and swap stories.

Swap stories?

Hey, what a great idea! After all, isn't that what Story Circle is all about? And who has more stories to swap than women—women who have loved and laughed and cried and succeeded and failed and survived and, yes, triumphed! Creative, canny, crafty, clever, courageous women. Women who have lived ordinary, extraordinary, and sometimes downright outrageous lives!

So for Saturday night's entertainment, we offer you—ta da! (a flourish of trumpets and rattle of drums, please)—an open mike!

And all you have to bring is you, and your story. Maybe it's a piece you've already shared with your Story Circle, or a poem or two that you've just finished, or a short autobiographical fiction piece. Maybe it's a story to be sung, or danced (if you need music, let us know ahead of time). Or perhaps you'd like to bring a piece of art that you've made—pottery, painting, textile, whatever—and tell us how and why it is part of your story. The sky's the limit, gals, and the only thing we have to fear (as some famous man said once) is fear itself. So let's see how many different stories, and how many different ways to tell a story, we can all come up with.

To give each story-teller a chance to participate, we'll divide up into as many as 9 groups—each in a separate meeting room. We ask you to limit your turn at the mike to five minutes. And in order to help our Mistress of Revels, Becca Taylor, to do a good job, we'll also ask you to sign up for a turn at the mike when you pick up your registration materials. Please sign up before 6pm on Saturday. And please bring a copy of your piece to post on the Story Wall—and plan to email it to us, as well, for sharing with the attendees!

Remember that wonderful '60s song that began "When you come to San Francisco, be sure and wear flowers in your hair"?

When you come to Austin, Texas, be sure to bring a story from your heart. We're eager to hear it, y'all!

^*Session topics are still tentative.