Many of us hold a deep dream of writing. We want to tell our stories so we can understand ourselves more fully and make sense of our lives. We want to pass on our family stories. By giving our life experiences shape, texture, and beauty, we hope to create a lasting legacy that will inspire and inform.

From Memory to Memoir will teach you how to take your life stories and craft them into a memoir. We will examine what transforms a personal story into something that has value and meaning for others, and in the process, we will be addressing the following questions:

• What makes a memoir a memoir?
• What is it about my life experience that makes it worth telling?
• How can I move beyond the “simply personal” into writing with universal significance?
• How can I write about the past with fresh immediacy?
• What should I include and what should I leave out?
• How can I write about things I don’t fully remember?
• What about the voices that tell me I can’t tell these stories because I’d be betraying the people in them?

You will leave the retreat with a substantial body of writing as well as many essential skills and exercises that will keep you focused and directed for months to come.