Category Archives: Writing prompt
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
Me@20: Trial by Firelight
We pause in the True Stories Well Told “Season of Sports” to celebrate the Association of Personal Historians‘ 20th anniversary with a “Me@20” post. Around the world, personal historians are blogging and posting to social media, reminiscing about our life … Continue reading
The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football
Every time I stumble on a line of inquiry, I discover “there’s a book for that!” With the “Season of Sports” opening on True Stories Well Told, I went a-googling, and found The Stronger Women Get, The More Men Love Football: … Continue reading
Competitive Sports
I’ve been thinking about competitive sports lately. It started with musings triggered by plans to go see the Mad Rollin’ Dolls with a few of my fearless, peerless writer friends, with hopes of blogging about the experience. (We’re doing a … Continue reading
Tricks memory plays…
My memoir writing workshop spring season continues… and so does my learning and growing, because I get as much from my students as they (I hope) get from me. In class we’ve been discussing the tricks memory plays on us. … Continue reading
Archie Smith
By Doug Elwell This piece was written in response to the prompt “characters I have known.” Doug describes it as creative nonfiction: “Each of the characters are real. The setting is real. Dialogue is in the voice of the characters … Continue reading
Early Memories
A writer in one of my memoir classes a couple of years ago posed an interesting writing prompt from her training as a psychologist: “Recover three of your earliest memories with a feeling attached—then ask your immediate family to do … Continue reading
A note to myself resurfaces…
Have you ever found a note in your own handwriting that you have ABSOLUTELY no memory of writing? Well that’s what you’re looking at. I don’t know when or where I wrote this down, and I can only guess from … Continue reading
“Writing Through Grief” with Jessica Handler
One of the workshops at the APH Conference (#aph2014) was presented by Jessica Handler, to whom I was introduced by mutual friend Audrey Galex earlier this year. I suggested Jessica submit a workshop proposal based on her teaching and book, Braving the Fire. She … Continue reading
True Stories Well Told 
Why should you write your family history?
A recent article posted by the New York Public Library got me thinking about the many reasons writing our stories is important. I introduced this question at a memoir writing workshop last spring, and my writers’ answers surprised me. They fell … Continue reading →