Author Archives: first person productions
In the new year, how about some new writing?
Ready for some consciousness-raising about ageism? Fancy fashioning a family history? Want to write in wintery beauty? It’s time to check out my upcoming workshops. At a glance: “First Monday, First Person” memoir writers’ salon, South Madison Branch Library, every first … Continue reading
Book review: “Second Wind” by Dr. Bill Thomas
I mentioned thought-leader/geriatrician Bill Thomas’ book Second Wind: Navigating the Passage to a Slower, Deeper, and More Connected Life in a post earlier this month about “Bedside Books.” I’m ready to share a more complete review. Second Wind is fundamentally about … Continue reading
Turning Points – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
By Melodee Currier A “turning point” is a point in time when something happens in your life that causes a change in direction. Don’t be surprised if you don’t realize a turning point has occurred until years later when you … Continue reading
Bedside books
On this Thanksgiving morning, I am grateful for books–and the time to read them. Here are the books currently on my nightstand: Two have been there since last winter. One joined the stack after a conversation with a feminist last … Continue reading
The Post Office Truck (conclusion)
By Diane Hughes The story continues from this previous post. Diane and Glenn have completed renovations to turn their Post Office Truck into a unique mobile home base, allowing them to join in the peripatetic 1960s hippie culture. For most of a year, … Continue reading
The Last Soldier
Tune in next week for the concluding chapter of Diane Hughes’ The Post Office Truck. In the meantime, in honor of Veteran’s Day, I offer this short creative essay by Doug Elwell, who holds the honor of being the most … Continue reading
The Post Office Truck
By Diane Hughes When I met Glenn, he was young businessman running an employment agency. I was a hippie who needed a job. In those days the distance between those two worlds seemed immense. I purchased a very conservative dress … Continue reading
It’s time to “Throw me somethin’, Mister!”
Mardi Gras may be nowhere near, but that traditional call from the crowds to the krewes is going out from True Stories Well Told. It is not “throws” I seek, not gaudy plastic jewelry or toys, but your stories, true … Continue reading
Finding “The Once”–advice from Alan Gelb, author of Having the Last Say
As a writing coach, I have found myself focusing more and more on encouraging people to GO SMALL. Keep it concrete, specific, situated in one uninterrupted run of time. Give us one moment that stands for the larger whole, one afternoon in your mother’s … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 
Return from #APH2015
I spent the last week in Sacramento at the Association of Personal Historians‘ annual board meeting and conference. It was a week that looked a lot like this… and like this… and from wherever I happened to be, like this… … Continue reading →