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3rd Annual Writing in the Garden
Click here for the flier – Writing in the Garden I am excited to announce our 3rd annual Writing in the Garden retreat. The class will take place on Tuesday, August 28, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the home of Bev A’bear in Brainerd, MN. My sister, author Candace Simar, will co-teach this year! The morning sessions will cover “Writing Beyond the Cliche” in scene, description and dialogue. After a break for lunch (bring a bag lunch) Candace will tell us about her publication journey (she has authored four...
read moreThe Most Important Component of a Memoir
While attending my MFA program in Boston, I loved listening to one of my fellow students talk. Kerry had attitude, spunk, and a distinct voice which I could easily identify. The first week of school we workshopped one of her memoir pieces. She had written a story about growing up in her large family. Her setting was perfect. The story was interesting. While the class discussed her work-in-progress, I wanted to speak up but was intimidated by the intelligence in the room. I kept waiting for someone else to say what I was thinking. After the...
read moreReading and Writing Memoir
I’m surprised when a student admits to not having read many memoirs. Can you imagine a mystery writer who doesn’t read mysteries? I think anyone attempting to write a memoir should read memoirs — lots of memoirs. If you can’t read the entire book, at least delve into the first pages and analyze the style of the author. Present tense? Past tense? Does the author jump directly into the inciting incident? What is the story about? What is the structure? What does the voice sound like? I just completed reading the memoir, The Rules of...
read moreTake a Summer Writing Class!
I love to take a summer writing class to recharge my batteries. If I have time to do some traveling, I always enjoy the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest) with classes taking place in June and July. Iowa City is about a six hour drive from Minneapolis and there are many nice hotels near campus to stay in and a great selection of classes. I’ve heard some great things about the writing classes offered at Madeline Island. Here’s the link for their catalog:...
read moreSummer Loft Classes
I love to take a summer writing class to recharge my batteries. If I have time to do some traveling, I always enjoy the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest) with classes taking place in June and July. Iowa City is about a six hour drive from Minneapolis and there are many nice hotels near campus to stay in and a great selection of classes. If you don’t have time to travel a long distance, check out the summer classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis (loft.org). I’ll be teaching my...
read moreNew Loft Class Coming Up May 12th
I will be teaching a new class at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 12, from 1 – 4 p.m. — Jumping Into the Story. I’ll be talking about those very important opening pages and what you need to accomplish when writing them. You only have one chance to make a great first impression! Will the reader want to continue after reading your first paragraphs? We will be looking at effective openings in some of the newer memoirs and novels. Afterwards, we will take time to read through some of the student’s...
read morePublishing News
I’m sorry if you have already seen this post, but I have been having problems with my website and am trying to get the auto emails working again. Just delete if you have already seen this. If you receive this email in your inbox, please comment so I know it’s working! Thanks. The Drum Literary Journal has just published my memoir piece Shards of Glass. This is an interesting journal because the stories are all read aloud by the authors. It was quite a challenge to get my voice recorded without the dog barking or the furnace...
read morePublishing News!
The Drum Literary Journal has just published my memoir piece Shards of Glass. This is an interesting journal because the stories are all read aloud by the authors. It was quite a challenge to get my voice recorded without the dog barking or the furnace kicking in at the wrong time, but I managed to jump through all the hoops and as far as I can tell, there isn’t any background noise in the piece. Since my memoir reads like fiction, it was put into the fiction section — but it is a part of my memoir Falling Away. If you would like to hear me...
read morePublishing News!
The Drum Literary Journal has just published my memoir piece Shards of Glass. This is an interesting journal because the stories are all read aloud by the authors. It was quite a challenge to get my voice recorded without the dog barking or the furnace kicking in at the wrong time, but I managed to jump through all the hoops and as far as I can tell, there isn’t any background noise in the piece. Since my memoir reads like fiction, it was put into the fiction section — but it is a part of my memoir Falling Away. If you would like...
read moreThe Em Dash — when to use it and when to lose it!
Here’s a great post from “The Other Side of the Story” blog about using the em dash. The correct way to make an em dash is to use control, alt, and dash all at once to make a long, combined dash. I like the em dash much better than a semi-colon. An em dash keeps the prose flowing, but a semi-colon stops the reader. It’s all a choice of style — neither right nor wrong. Here’s the link:...
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