Writers and Editors

The Washington Biography Group's next meeting

has been holding Zoom meetings through the pandemic and beyond

Members will be sent notices of the Zoom time and code.

Go here here for more about Washington Biography Group and its members: Washington Biography Group

Go here for fuller instructions on where the WBG meets.

To be added to the WBG e-mail list and receive meeting notices and Pat's e-letter about memoir and biography, send a message to Pat's WBG email: (spelled out to elude spammers: washingtonbiographygroup at gmail dot com) Convert that to traditional e-mail formula). What you get is periodic e-letters full of links related to life story writing, publishing, and related topics, plus notices about our meetings (or big events in the lives of members).

Topic for some later date: How best to use social media to market our books.
How do we determine our subject's world view? What are the dominant characteristics that shape what we think of them? Their religion? Where they grew up? What else?
All about digital publishing (from POD to eBooks and more)
An overview of social media
Book reviews, where they appear and how to get them

How will you be remembered, and what has your life meant? The goal in this nontraditional workshop of short personal writing (a slightly modified version of Guided Autobiography) is to capture your personal and family legacy for the next generation, the friends and family who will survive you. Knowing that you are writing not for publication but to set the record straight--in your own mind, as much as anything--may liberate you, allowing you to examine with candor your important life choices and experiences, achievements and mistakes, beliefs and convictions. You will write one piece each week, to read aloud, including one piece (500 words or less) to bring for the first night, to introduce yourself with. Assignment 1: A turning point in your life. Ask Pat for assignment in more detail.) Work will be read aloud to the group but not "workshopped" -- not with the kind of critiquing that can wilt writers who are trying to explore their life frankly but aren't yet ready or eager for literary criticism.

Through a series of exercises designed to open a rich vein of personal material, you will begin the exploration and storytelling that may help you tell your personal or family history. No whining, no boasting, no name dropping: Just an honest examination of what went on in your life or your family, with an emphasis on telling the stories and fleshing out the characters you find there. This course, which grew out of the warm-up exercises for Pat's workshop on ethical wills, will encourage you to reminisce deeply: to mine your life (and family) experiences for personal stories, myths, themes, and values.

The Writer's Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815
Phone: 301 654-8664
Writer's Center online
http://www.writer.org
postmaster@writer.org
$270 (most of which goes to support the Writer's Center)

You can e-mail postmaster@writer.org and ask to be notified when workshops go on-line for registration. Include your mailing address and ask for a hard copy of their brochure of workshops.

Check out Pat's article on The Beneficial Effects of Life Story and Legacy Activities (first published in Geriatric Care Management Journal, Spring 2009). But hey -- young people benefit, too!

Guided Autobiography
James Birren developed the simple but effective process of Guided Autobiography (for which Pat was trained) Each week, including the first week, participants will write and read aloud a two-page story from their life based on a theme (for example, Money -- or Love). The idea: to help you (and your survivors) see the patterns in your life. First week's assignment (participants will receive a handout from the instructor prior to the start date): the Major Branching Points of Your Life.