Author Archives: first person productions
Revisiting the “Sunset Wall”
I’m just back from a few days with my mother in Florida. The occasion? The Flower Festival at her Episcopal church. This involves High Tea in the parish hall, (yes, crustless sandwiches, scones w/ clotted cream, and all) plus musical performances … Continue reading
Book Review: “Om Namah…” by Kalyanii
Readers of True Stories Well Told who have read Kalyanii’s earlier essays will cheer, as I do, her accomplishment in publishing her novel Om Namah. Its straightforward categorization as “FICTION / Contemporary women” hides the deep and subtle interplay between … Continue reading
The “Always” vs. the “Once”
I just wrapped up another workshop on “Start Writing Your Family History”. In the course of teaching it, I found myself burrowing for memories of the oldest ancestor I hold in living memory, my stern-but-fun Hoosier grandfather, known as Pop. Attempting … Continue reading
The Road or the Scholar
I wrote this piece after Diane Hughes read her “Post Office Truck” story at a meeting of the First Monday, First Person salon earlier this year. How many of my generation were seized by a desire for a life of adventure on the open … Continue reading
Potpourri
The word “potpourri” originated in the early 17th century, when it denoted a stew made of different kinds of meat. Today’s “True Stories Well Told” is a mixed meal of opportunities you might want to take advantage of. Over the … Continue reading
Planes, Trains and Vertigo
By Jeremiah Cahill My wife picked me up at the station in Columbus, Wisconsin and the vertigo hit me shortly after we got home to Madison—a kind of dizziness or sense of motion. I‘d been on long-distance trains for three … Continue reading
Let Your Writer Self Be With You
As I prepare for my “Write in Nature: A Day Away” retreat on January 28th, a line from the closing of Sheila’s essay (below) resonates with me. Sheila wrote, “I believe that when we are stuck, if we can adopt … Continue reading
L – A – N – C – E
By Galen Hoffman It was 1983, so I would have been 22 years old. I am bi-polar, and in those days I was having 1 or 2 substantial manic episodes per year. A manic episode would last 1 to 4 … Continue reading
“Be the ancestor you wish you had!”
I heard that phrase from an attendee at a writing talk I gave in Belleville a few years ago, and it stuck with me because it so perfectly captured one of the reasons why I encourage people to write their … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 
Youthquake, Agequake, Entrepreneur: what does it mean to be “unprecedented”?
A blog post I wrote appears today on the Association of Personal Historians’ blog. In it I discuss something that’s been on my mind a lot lately–my cohort of Boomers who are reaching traditional retirement age in unprecedented numbers, with an … Continue reading →