A 4-week Memoir Workshop Intensive by Judy L. Mandel  by phone and email

June 10, 17, 24, July 1
4 PST, 5 MST, 6 CST, 7 EST

$125 for non-members

$110 for members

Often when we start writing our memoir, we struggle to find our own unique way of telling the story—our voice. It can be as elusive as a shadow, as hard to capture as a dream. Once we find our voice, the way our writing sounds most like our inner self, our story is much easier to shape. Finding the right voice for your memoir is very much like falling in love; hard to describe but powerful.

What you will learn:
• How word choice, cadence, and sentence structure contribute to creating the mood in the world of your memoir
• Not to be afraid to experiment with different ways of writing
• How free-writing can free your inner voice
• How to think about your life in terms of meaningful scenes or vignettes
• How to examine different memoirs in terms of voice, and how to apply that to your own writing

How the class will work
We will have four 60-minute telephone sessions. In each session I will share information that will help you develop your own voice for your memoir. You will also have an assignment for each class that will relate to your memoir development that you will send on to everyone in the class at least a day before our session to give everyone a chance to read it.

We’ll use the second half of the class to comment on each others’ work in a constructive and supportive manner. We will also address your specific issues with defining and using a consistent voice within your memoir. I will also be happy to talk to you individually about your work via email or phone during the duration of the course.

Bio
Judy L. Mandel is a workshop leader, writing coach and editor. She is the author of REPLACEMENT CHILD – A MEMOIR (Seal Press, 2013). Judy’s essays and articles have appeared in Connecticut LIFE, ASJA Monthly, Complete Wellbeing Magazine, Connecticut Authors and Publishers Newsletter, and The Southampton Review. Judy is now writing a novel as well as teaching memoir writing as part of  National Association of Memoir Writers.