Don B. reads about a memory of a nun who taught penmanship and the girl who was called to the board to practice her ovals and lines.

Seated in the living room at Keith House after their reading, Theresa, "Chigger," and Kay pose for a photo. I stand behind them. Toni and Don slipped out before the picture was made.

Last week I taught "Your Life - Your Stories" at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Class began on Sunday evening and ended Friday evening. Five delightful adults joined me Sunday after dinner at Orchard House.

Four women, Kay, Toni, Theresa and "Chigger" and one man, Don B., began their journey to writing about their lives. Most of them were beginning writers. By Friday afternoon when the writing exhibit was set up in the Community Room, they had learned to use active verbs instead of "to be" verbs, to write in active voice, how to use photographs to spark memories, how to organize their work, and how to focus down on small events instead of trying to cover years of memories in one piece.

Although I am exhausted today, I enjoyed every moment. I heard fabulous stories from each of these unique people. Toni's story of her first plane ride back in the fifties, Don's stories, including the story of a son's valuable advice, Kay's Pickin' Corn story, Chigger's story of her twins, and Theresa's story of her Aunt Inez being baptized in the Ohio River, are all researched from their memories.

ORCHARD HOUSE

This is Orchard House at John C. Campbell Folk School. Here, in the living room, in the middle part of the old farm house, I met Nancy Simpson thirteen years ago. That was a turning point in my life.
We sat in the large room with big windows across the back, framing a veiw of field and forest and mountains, and wrote poems all day for five days in a row.
Now added on the far end of the house, just last year, a combination photo and writing studio houses eight Mac computers and a printer/copier. Some students prefer paper and pen and that is fine with me. I create better on paper than on the keyboard, but I LOVE the computer for re-writing. And we all know we must not be afraid to write badly, to pour out our thoughts, because we will re-write several times before we have a piece perfected.