Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Teaching and Writing Brings Joy to My Life

I have enjoyed teaching a memoir class for the Institute of Continuing Learning the last three weeks. As usual, my students seem to bond and enjoy each other. This class is taught on Zoom which has become the way I see most people in these strange and abnormal times.

Monday will be the last class in this course, and I hope my students have learned much and are motivated to continue writing. It is always a joy for me when my students tell me that the class was important to them in any way. You can see what some have said if you visit this page on this blog.

Some of the things we covered are the importance of using dialogue and how to best use dialogue. Dialogue is the part that readers never skip, so we want it to move the story forward, describe characters, and help the reader know the person speaking. My dear friend, Carol Crawford, editor, poet and writer, will teach a class on writing dialogue on Zoom in September. If you want to take that class you don't have to leave your own home. I will post more about it and how you can register in a later post.


I am always thrilled to see one of my students write and publish a book. 
Author Gene Vickers has a new novel, his second, titled Amen and Amen. It is set in north Georgia, and characters range from high school students to teachers, coaches, parents, business men and women from various economic levels. We have young lovers, Friday night football in the south, and a melding of cultures. The book started from a short story by the author, and someone suggested he turn that story into a novel. I want to do an interview with Gene when he and I both have time. His book is now available on Amazon.com. It is a good read, a book that offers hope and boosts your mood in a time when we all need some of that.

I hope my readers, my friends, will have a wonderful week ahead and find good in every day. No matter how dark things seem, there is always a silver lining if we look hard enough. 


Want a short history lesson? Click here to read what another student, a veteran, has to say about Korean Conflict. 

6 comments:

  1. I am glad that your teaching brings you joy - and am very sure that your students share that feeling.

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  2. I will go check out that book on Amazon. And congratulations on having a successful Zoom class. I would expect nothing else from you. :-)

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  3. Thanks, EC. I try to make my students enjoy it.

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  4. Thanks for the compliment, DJan. It has been a stretch, and my teaching has changed very much from having an enthusiastic class in my studio to teaching online. We do what we have to do, don't we?

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  5. Glenda, I tried to sign up for your memoir-writing class on July 5th but found out the deadline for mailing in the registration form was July 6th. I didn't know about it any sooner. So much for that brilliant idea. I'm definitely interested in the dialog-writing class in September and looking forward to learning more about that.

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  6. Abbie, I am sorry you missed the memoir class in July. I will be sure you get info on the dialogue class with Carol Crawford. You will like Carol.

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I really appreciate your comments, and I love reading what you say.