Virtual Class March 22, 7 - 9 PM

Join me on Zoom for a two-hour free class on writing about your life.
Read more about it here.

When you write your life stories, you want to Inform, Entertain and Enlighten. This will keep your reader engaged and wanting to read your entire book. We will do some writing in class and you will be given handouts.

You will register with the Carl Sandburg Home Historic Site, Connemara, located in Flat Rock, NC, a delightful place to visit. But I will not be there. I will be home on my computer and you can do the same. Hope to see you there.

Why Do You Write?

My students know that I am a follower of Bobbie Christmas, editor, and writer. She is one of the most astute people on the subject of writing that I know. I subscribe to her free newsletter and save every one of them for future reference. 

In a recent blog post, Bobbie answers questions from writers. She answers with a question of her own. Why do you write?

https://www.zebraeditor.com/blog/writing/

That is a good question to ask yourself if you are a beginning writer or if you have been writing for a while but are not sure what you want to write, who you are writing for and what you want to say. Successful writers make plans. They outline a book or have an idea of the ending before they write the first sentence.

When writing a memoir, I suggest the writer keep in mind the audience he expects to have for his book. When I wrote my family history, Profiles and Pedigrees, Descendants of Thomas Charles Council, I knew this book was for the Council family. I knew that the descendants of Thomas Charles and his ten children would be the people who would read this book. I have been very pleased when others have read it and found it interesting as well.

The memoir I am writing about my own life is for my family as well, but I hope it carries a theme that will appeal to others. What is my story? What theme will thread through the book or books? When writing memoirs one doesn't have to put it all in one book. In fact, I like to write about various parts of my life that are relatable to the lives of others. My childhood growing up in the deep south on a farm in the 1950s is like historical writing to most people alive today. What makes my life unique is my family, my place in my family, my father's illness, four much older brothers, my sister, 15 years older than I, and my baby sister. The setting for this memoir is a 125-acre farm in deep south Georgia. My stories are about the relationships with my parents and my siblings, my love for pets, especially horses, and all the years I longed for my own horse, but could not have one. A horse just for me to ride was a ridiculous idea that would cost far too much. 

I hope I can write this story well enough that my readers will feel the emotion stirring in them, will hope that this child will someday have that pony she dreams about. I want my readers to understand that no one was punishing me. They just looked at it from a monetary viewpoint. "A horse eats as much as a cow. But the cow can be sold for a profit or killed for meat for the family."

So, I hope I can hook readers and they will find my stories interesting. 

As I plan to teach a class in March for the Carl Sandburg Home Historic Site, I want to motivate and inspire the students to write and know why they write.  

We all have unique stories to tell. What is your story and who are your readers?

Writing about our lives, our families and ourselves

Today is Sunday already. I slept most of Saturday. I needed the rest from the chronic pain I seem to live with daily now.

But I am working on getting it under control. I have a writing class coming up on April 30, Tuesday at 2:00 PM. This is a memoir class sponsored by ICL, the Institute of Continuing Learning at Young Harris College.

ICL has been around for a number of years and they engage talented instructors in varied subjects that teach classes for adults, most of them retired people who live in our area. I have learned from some excellent teachers there, and I have taught several times as well.

Once an older adult told me, "My grandchildren think I grew up when people traveled in covered wagons, so I decided I needed to write about what my life was like."

I have been told, "I don't know how I can write about seventy years of life. It is just too overwhelming!"

That is why I help my students write about the most important parts of their lives and they can take it one small part at the time. You know the old saying How do you eat an elephant? One bite at the time.

When I wrote my family history book, I decided to write about my grandfather and grandmother and their ten children. I told the stories of each one of them in a few pages, and then I added the genealogy of each of them. They were not rich or famous, but their lives were examples of rural life in the late eighteen hundreds and early twentieth century in north Florida and south Georgia.

My grandfather, Tom Council, was born in 1858, a short while before the Civil War began. His father served in the war and was taken prisoner. They lived in a rural area south of Tallahassee, Florida. Everyone in the family worked in the fields on the farm.

Tom's first child, a girl, was born in 1878 or 1879. His first son, born in 1883, died at the age of 14 from malaria. He is buried at the Council Cemetery in Wakulla County Florida.

The family moved up to south Georgia after John Henry died and the other children had a completely different life. The cotton mills were being built in the south by men from the north. Since there were no child labor laws at the time, all of the children in the family worked in the mill. The girls enjoyed their new life much better than working on the farm. In their teens, they married and began families. 

In the 1920s, Florida began booming with growth and drew most of the family members to the Tampa area. All of my father's brothers and sisters ended up down there. I still have many cousins in the Sunshine State.

I was so fortunate that my mother and my cousins told me their stories. I had to edit most of them and tried to include only the most interesting parts for my readers. 

Now I am working on writing about my brothers and sisters and my parents. Each one of them has a story that is unique and interesting. I hope I do them justice.

My mission in teaching is to help my students create interesting nonfiction narratives while including the facts in their lives or the lives of their family members. We can only do our best to tell the truth as we know it and remember it because no two people will remember exactly the same things. 

I look forward to my classes, hearing the stories written by my students and helping them create the best narrative they can. We write short pieces that I use to teach the basics in writing. 

My classes are listed on www.glendacouncilbeall.com under Studio Classes and Off site Classes. I am so pleased when students write to me and tell me how much they enjoy our time together.

"Getting the Story" by Jan DeBlieu sounds like me

I follow a blog, Searching for Seva, Finding Wholeness Again by Helping Others. The author is Jan DeBlieu.  This is the link to her blog.  http://www.jandeblieu.com/blog/

Jan DeBlieu

Jan has a journalism background, and like me, she likes to hear the stories of others. My readers know I love to interview interesting people and post their words on my blog. My memoir classes are such fun for me to teach because I hear the unique stories of my students. When we write about ourselves and read our stories aloud in class, we get feedback and get an opportunity to explain more about us. Most of us just want to be heard.

Read Jan's latest newsletter article, Getting the Story, and you might see how much she and I have in common. You might also relate to her story..

 

Writing Again

Thursday, March 9.
Tonight I read three pages from a memoir I began some years ago. I read them at our critique group, and I am so glad I took them for feedback. I had read only a  few lines before I realized how lacking my story was and how much more I can do to make it good.

I feel motivated to write again after my experience tonight. I have not written anything but blog posts in a  long, long time. Somewhere in the past year, I let everything come ahead of my creative nature. I am ready to come back, to follow my passion again.

The  process of publishing is a long one. Nothing good comes easily. This week I sent a manuscript to an editor. It is a compilation of short prose pieces, non-fiction and one short story. Included in this manuscript is a  collection of stories by my friend Estelle Rice. We decided a few years ago to publish a book about our beloved pets and other animals in our  lives. I think it will be a good read.

In the coming weeks, I will go down to my studio on certain days just to write. Most writers try to write every day, and I usually do some kind  of writing almost every day. But I have not done any serious writing lately. That is what I miss. 

One of my past students told me he is writing several pages on his novel every day. He described the joy he feels when he becomes lost in the story, in his writing and hates to put it aside to go on with the rest of his life. I have felt those moments. I want to feel them again.

Teaching Adults How to Leave a Written Legacy

About ten years ago when I began seriously teaching mature adults to write their life stories, I had been invited to a program called EAGLE held at Nacoochee Methodist Church in Sautee-Nacoochee, Georgia. Every Thursday classes in painting, fly-tying, chair caning, photography and other crafts are taught by volunteer instructors. My friends, Twila and Harvey asked if I’d like to teach a writing class for EAGLE.  It is nearly an hour’s drive over the mountains to reach the church where the members and the community have created an excellent program for retired adults and others who are free to attend day-classes.

A similar program has flourished at the Union County Methodist Church in Blairsville, GA where I have  attended as a student and as a teacher. This program is called OASIS. All those letters stand for words, but they all mean come and pay a small fee to take a one or two hour class, have lunch with friends, and enjoy an enlightening program after lunch. I don’t know who starts these kinds of opportunities in their communities, but I think this is one of the best ways churches can serve people.

My first class at the Nacoochee Church surprised me with the large number of students. Most of them were willing to work on writing at home and share it with us the next week. We spent our time on quality of the content, getting thoughts on paper, because none of them had done any writing of this sort. My purpose was to help them write their true stories so that family would want to read them. I asked them to write as if they were writing fiction, a short story or a small book. We discussed what kept them reading a novel or short story. The stories were simple with a beginning, middle and end. They caught on quickly to use active verbs and descriptive verbs to provide the reader an image.

After eight weeks of classes, several of the students were excited to read at the closing ceremony. I was proud when several in the audience came to me and said they wanted to sign up for the next writing class.

Moving on to teach closer to home

When gasoline prices rose up and up, I could not continue to drive so far and looked to teach closer to home. Nancy Simpson, resident writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School at the time, asked me to substitute for a writer who could not teach her scheduled weekend class at JCCFS. I was thrilled. After fifteen years of taking writing classes at this wonderful legendary place, I was going to teach there.

That weekend class led to week-long classes nearly every year for six years. Many of my students there have become dear friends whom I see and stay in contact with wherever they live in this country. They know they can ask me for advice, or ask me to connect them with writers or editors who can help them. They share their successes with me and I joy in their excitement.

Now I teach once a week at Tri-County Community College in Cherokee County about twenty miles from my home. I will begin a new course on Tuesday, September 1, at six o’clock in the evening. I teach two-hour classes and the courses last for four weeks. 

Ginny and Nadine were students in my first class at Tri-County College in 2008. Now we are great friends.

Again, these are beginning writers who are not looking to write a bestseller, but who want to write a lasting legacy for their families. My goal is to help them make their writing entertaining as well as informative. No one wants to waste time writing work that no one finds interesting.

I encourage my students to tell the most interesting stories about their lives, not lay out the daily facts of where they lived, attended school, and games they played. The writer must include the facts within a narrative that moves along and holds the reader's interest.

I look forward to next week when we begin a new class with some seasoned writers from earlier classes and new people who will begin telling their unique stories for future generations.

Behind Orchard House at Folk School

Steve Harvey, one of my first writing teachers, speaks in Hayesville

I wish all of you could be here in our little town to hear Steve Harvey talk about his writing and his new book just out. You can find his book on Kindle if you read e-books or at Amazon.com 

I have enjoyed reading it and stayed up way too late last night because of it.

Steve was one of my first writing teachers at the John C. Campbell Folk School a couple of decades ago when I came to this enchanting part of the world. He is one of the best essayist, and I have read his previous books. Bound for Shady Grove is my favorite, I think, because in it he takes us on a tour of the music he likes and the musicians he admires with the theme of banjo which he plays in a delightful group called, Butternut Creek and Friends. Barry and I followed their music and loved their concerts here in western NC and in North Georgia. 

Steve is quiet and soft spoken but always seems to have a twinkle in his eyes, like he knows something we don't know. I am very excited that he, now retired from teaching at Young Harris College, is going to hold a workshop for us at my studio this summer. 

His memoir, The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, includes details that enrich the already haunting story of his mother's suicide when he was a young boy. She caught him and his little friend looking at a Playboy magazine. Instead of scolding and making him feel like a bad kid, she sent his friend home then sat down with a book of artists' paintings and taught him to appreciate the beauty of a woman's body. She told him the Playboy pictures degraded women, but it was natural that he enjoy seeing nude pictures of women.

That gave such insight into the love she had for him and her wonderful parenting skills in spite of her deep dark depression. 

I admit, I'm very excited about his talk on Saturday, March 28, and even more excited about having another class with this teacher I have always admired. 

Author Chat with Steven Harvey

Joe’s Coffee House and Trading Post

82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC 28904

Nonfiction Author Dr. Steven Harvey will Speak in Hayesville

Saturday, March 28, 4:30 p.m. Joe’s Coffee House and Trading Post, in Hayesville, NC will host Dr. Steven Harvey, author and University Professor, who will talk about his new memoir, The Book of Knowledge and Wonder, a memoir about coming to terms with the suicide of his mother when he was a young boy. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

The book was published by Ovenbird Books as part of the “Judith Kitchen Select” series. A section of the memoir appeared in The Best American Essays 2013 selected by Cheryl Strayed. He is also the author of three books of personal essays. A Geometry of Lilies, Lost in Translation, and Bound for Shady Grove and edited an anthology of essays written by men on middle age called In a Dark Wood.

He is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at Young Harris College, a member of the nonfiction faculty in the Ashland University MFA program in creative writing, and a senior editor for River Teeth magazine. He is the creator of The Humble Essayist, a website designed to promote literary nonfiction.

He lives in the north Georgia mountains. You can learn more about Steve and his work at his web site: www.steven-harvey-author.com .

This program is sponsored by Writers Circle around the Table. Contact Glenda Beall, 828-389-4441 for more information.

How to write about your family - WD article

This is a question I hear every time I teach a workshop or course on Writing About Your Life.

Often when we begin to write about family, we want to tell all the negative things about some of them. Once a student said she had been waiting a long time to tell about her awful mother.

In the article in Writers Digest, the online editor, Brian Klem, has excellent advice about how we might handle the awful mother or others who have hurt us or let us down.

At one time, I wanted to write about my distant father who seldom seemed to know I was in the room. Now, after years of writing I see that my father had another side to him that I didn't know. I learned he was similar to most men of his generation, afraid to show his soft side. Afraid he might show tears that would embarrass him. I know that is why he didn't give me away at my wedding.

Brian Klem, in this article touches on many of the things that we must take into account when we write about family. Read more here.

Write Your Life Stories at Tri County Community College in Murphy, NC with Glenda Beall, instructor.
Classes begin Tuesdays, 6 - 8 p.m. March 24 for four weeks. Contact Lisa Thompson, lthompson@tricountycc.edu   for registration.

Writing classes at Tri-County Community College in September

I finished my August class at Tri-County Community College last night. This was one of those groups of people who seemed to bond right away. Their enthusiasm motivated each other. Their enthusiasm motivated ME. 

We had one man and seven women in the class. Our lone male stood his ground well but was not arrogant or combative as some men are when outnumbered by the opposite sex. He was a gentleman of the old school and a good writer. His subject was military life in Viet Nam, and he made us laugh.

Because everyone enjoyed this class and wanted to continue, we decided to hold another class beginning September 2, Tuesdays, 6 - 8 p.m. The title of the class is Write What You Like. That means we feature fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, and poetry to give everyone a taste of it all. But for homework, students write what they like to write. 

I hope anyone who lives locally, in the area of TCCC, will call Lisa Thompson at the Community Enrichment department if you would like to attend four classes in September. The fee is only $29.00, but you must register before class time on Tuesday.

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Prepare to Publish - What Beginning authors need to know

Saturday, October 19, 2:30 p.m. at Moss Library in Hayesville, NC, three authors will join me on a panel discussion, Prepare to Publish. 

Kathryn Magendie, author of Secret Graces and other books, will represent the traditional manner of publishing. She has several books out. 

Maren O. Mitchell, author of a self-help book, Beat Chronic Pain; An Insider's Guide, will discuss her journey to publishing.

A former Writers Circle student, Nadine Justice, author of I'm a Coal Miner's Daughter, But I Cain't Sang, will talk about the next step she took after the last sentence of her memoir had been written.

The question I hear most from beginning and amateur writers is, "Now I have the manuscript completed, what next?"

We hope to bring to the public ideas about preparing for publication, what the author should be doing before the book has been written and what to do once he/she has the printed copy in hand. 

We will give out handouts with some places, links, etc. that will be helpful to our novice authors. 

This is a free event sponsored by Writers Circle Studio.

The library is located at 26 Anderson St. Hayesville. Call Mary Fonda, librarian at 829-389-8401 for directions. Call Glenda Beall 828-389-4441 for further information. 

Bill Ramsey Writes his Life

Visit Bill Ramsey's website and see how he has written his life story.

The photos take me back to those years he writes about, 1950 - 1960. Bill grew up in Pennsylvania and I grew up in Georgia, but we share the common theme of living in a time when kids could be kids and our parents didn't live in fear of our being out of their sight.

If you lived during that decade, you will enjoy seeing how you relate to his life, and if you didn't live during that decade, your parents or grandparents might have, so you can see what their lives were like.

Bill Ramsey lives in Henderson County, NC and for several years has headed up the Blue Ridge Bookfest held at Flat Rock Community college in May. 

Let me introduce you to Kathy

I have a new blog URL listed on the sidebar under Great Places to Visit. The blogger is Kathy Rhodes who edited a great southern themed online journal, Muscadine Lines; a Southern Journal, until she ended that venture last year.

I was happy to have a couple of my pieces accepted by Kathy.

You can read them here:
http://www.asouthernjournal.com/Ezine/Archives/2009/2009v27beall.html
http://www.asouthernjournal.com/Ezine/Archives/2011/2011v36beall.html
I see where we can order a copy of the anthology of all authors who have been published on Muscadine Lines. My work is in that book.

Kathy writes about a trip she is on similar to the one I call the cruise from Hell a couple of years ago. I went with my sister and brother in law on a cruise that would take us up the New England coast and on to New Brunswick Canada and to Nova Scotia. It would have been a dream trip except I became ill standing in line for hours waiting to get on the ship. The computers were down.

And, on the ship there was a perfume shop that sprayed the crew members each morning with "fragrance of the day" so the entire inside of the ship was polluted with chemicals that I had to breathe. One day I'll write more about all that. But Kathy is enjoying her trip and I'm happy for her. 

Reading Kathy's post today reminded me we did have a couple of days when I was able to leave the ship and enjoy the fabulous countryside. I still go back in my mind to the drive above Fundy Bay and along the shoreline dotted with white houses and buildings that begged to be subjects for a large painting.

I learned also that Kathy lost her husband, Charlie, five years ago June 27.  So she and I have much in common. The anniversary of Barry's death is July 21. She has written a memoir,
Remember the Dragonflies, which she tells about on her blog. I want to read it. 

Visit Kathy at /http://kathyrhodes.wordpress.com/

The Movie 42 - I finally saw it.

Growing up near where Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, GA, I heard some horrific stories from my father about treatment of black people in the rural areas. Those stories have stayed with me all my life. I write about them in my memoir.

I'm glad the movie, 42, was uplifting. What a brave young man Robinson was to take on the entire world of baseball, to take on the verbal abuse from the players and the fans.

I was happy the movie portrayed a southern team mate, Pee Wee Reese, as one who put his arm around Jackie and faced the fans to let them know where he stood. That was also a brave man. 

In my book, I'll tell about my sister and how she had to defend herself while in college, from racist remarks of hometown students who had read in a newspaper that she was on the welcoming committee for Charlene Hunter, first of two black students at UGA. The article was untrue, but the meanness and accusations were not.

The movie, 42, made me feel good about how far this country has come although we have so much further to go. I think racism has just gone underground, at least in the south, because people tell me that a heavy racist population prospers right here in our mountains. I am fortunate to know and be able to socialize with open-minded intelligent and informed people. Most of them I have met through writing. 

We have more good people than bad, I believe, and I'm glad good people, after a long time of blindness, saw the wrong being done by ignorant people, and changed our laws. Sadly laws can't change the prejudiced hearts and minds of others. They have to obey law, but still, inside they hate.

Patriotic Anniversary

Barry and I met on the fourth of July. That was a turning point in my life. 

First Christmas in our Mountain Home. We were so happy.

I teach my students to write down the turning points of their lives as a way to organize their memoirs. Meeting Barry was a large turning point in my life. I had become disenchanted with dating, with men, and wanted nothing to do with their kind. I fell in love with a beautiful young mare my brother had bought for the farm. She kept me busy and I could depend on her. I told myself I could teach and ride horseback and never miss dating.

I had graduated from college and come home like the good little girl I was expected to be. The men I dated expected me to be something I was not. But I agreed to go on a blind date with a young man, Barry Beall, who would not take no for an answer. 

He arrived in a maroon Chevy II convertible, climbed out of his car and walked toward me where I stood watching my older brothers play horse shoes in our yard. I was not impressed with my date's looks -- tall, skinny with a crew cut. He wore the worst looking knit swim shorts I'd ever seen. 

My first impression changed completely by the time we had taken a boat ride and spent time talking, and watching the fireworks that night. We fell in love on July 4th. We married the following year on Flag Day, June 14. 

He grew more handsome as he aged.

Today at our table our old friends gathered and we remembered Barry. I know he was with us. We couldn't see him but I felt his presence and his love.

We were The Six

SHORT STORY CONTEST DEADLINE MAY 31

When we write our life stories, sometimes it is easier to write them as fiction. In fiction we can imagine or make up things that happened. We don't have to stick to the exact facts. Many novels are taken from real life experiences. Hemingway's novels are full of his actual adventures.

Below I have listed a place where you can enter a short story for a contest with Glimmer Train.

A short story is FICTION. A memoir is NOT Fiction. A memoir is true.

Try taking a true story you have written and rewrite it as a short story(fiction).

Upcoming deadline:

The Short Story Award for New Writers (yes, 1st place now wins $1,500 and publication!) closes May 31. See Writing Guidelines. Open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared (nor is scheduled to appear) in any print publication with a circulation over 5,000. Submissions must not have appeared in any print publication. Word count: most submissions run 1,500 to 6,000 words but can go up to 12,000.

What do you do when...

Come on, tell me. What good old home remedies work for head and chest congestion that hangs on and on?
I've tried the whiskey and  honey in the little bottles that a friend told me about a few years ago. Pershaps I've not used enough. Tomorrow maybe I should drink two or three of the little chaps.

I was advised today to boil honey and lemon juice and then add whisky. Cool and drink. How often? How much?

I smell like Vick's because I rub that on my chest every night.

My mother cured my sister from double pneumonia many years ago with a poultice of tar and tallow. She called it a tar and tallow plaster. I was too little to remember the event but Mother described in detail the night she and her neighbors sat up with the dying baby. She described it as a miracle. I wrote that story a few years ago and it was published in an anthology.

You have stories also you can write about and you can publish. I'll begin a new class in June at Tri-County College on Writing Life Stories. If you live in the area and like to write about your life experiences, call the college and register. I'll give more details later or you can go to http://www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com/ (Writers Circle) and learn more.

Are You Looking for an Agent?

Successful author, Judy Goldman, wrote a post on her blog with some very good advice for finding an agent for your novel or memoir. Many books have been written by authors who can't find an agent to help them reach  traditional publishers. Judy suggests you not even look for an agent until your book is completely finished and that means edited by someone with who knows what they are doing.  Click the link below and read more by someone who has published two novels. And read the excerpt of her latest. I did and now I have to read the entire book.

http://judygoldman.com/blog/?p=159

Autobiography or Memoir

"Shall I begin with the day I was born?"
"I just get overwhelmed when I try to think about writing about my life. I'm 70 years old. That will take a long time."

These are the questions I often hear from mature adults who want to leave a record of their lives for their families. In my classes we write stories about events that happened in our lives, in our families. We don't begin with the day we were born. We make a timeline of our lives and use file folders to organize our stories of important memories. One day those stories will form the memoir we want to leave behind.

Even Helen Keller said, in her autobiography, she would only include parts of her life that would be of interest. With prompts we discover memories we want to share with our children and generations to come. Some of the writing may never see the light of day, but some will form the backbone of a family history or a personal history that satisfies the writer and will be treasured by children of tomorrow.

Writers Circle - New Season of Classes Beginning in March

Classes are taught at the studio of Glenda Beall in Hayesville, NC. Three hour workshops are $30. Contact glendabeall@msn.com for registration information or call 828-389-4441.

Saturday, March 12 – Instructor: Estelle Darrow Rice: POLISHING PROSE AND POETRY. This workshop is intended to guide participants in the process of enriching their work to the delight of themselves and their readers. Participants will be asked to submit several pages of an unfinished manuscript, preferably a first or second draft that they will use in the workshop.

Estelle Darrow Rice is a poet and writer of short stories and personal essays. She holds a BA degree in Psychology from Queens University, Charlotte, NC and a MA degree in counseling from the University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies. She has published a book of spiritual poems, Quiet Times. Rice teaches workshops at Writers Circle in Hayesville. She stresses finding the creative seed that is in all of us as we explore the essence of people, and things that surround us.

Wednesday classes – six week course. Sign up for one, two or for all six. Contact Glenda Beall glendabeall@msn.com or 828-389-4441

Instructor: Glenda Beall: Write stories for yourself, your family or for publication. In these classes we will mine for memories using prompts that help recall the details of characters and the scenes that set your stories apart. We will take a journey through our lives, choosing the most interesting facets to put on paper. Using elements of fiction, participants learn what will keep readers enthralled with their stories.

Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. - March 23, March 30, April 6, April 20, April 27, May 4.

Individual classes - $30.00 Registration fee for six week course. $75.00

Sunday afternoons, March 19 and 26, Instructor: Karen Holmes –
Engage Your Audience: Techniques for Reading Your Work in Public

Sharing your work with an audience enhances the joy of writing. But you’re not alone if you get the jitters or you feel you don’t come across well. Becoming a good reader is all about practicing and gaining confidence. Plus, there are a few tricks you can learn to help you sound like a pro!

In this class, you’ll practice enunciation, projection, timing, proper body language and using a microphone. In the first class, you’ll receive a gentle critique using a video camera (if you’re comfortable with this), and you’ll learn tips to help you improve. Then you’ll have time to practice on your own before returning for the second class, where we will polish your technique further and discuss how to choose and order your works for a program that reaches audiences in the best way. Open to writers of any genre.

About the teacher: Karen Paul Holmes, a published poet and business writer, enjoys reading her work in public and receives lots of good feedback from her audiences. Her public speaking experience includes presenting workshops at international business conferences.

April 31- Saturday – One day – two 3 Hour sessions - Poetry Memoir
Instructor: JoAnn Dropp

Have you always wanted to write your memoir as a gift to your loved ones or as a way to tell your story, but felt overwhelmed at the thought of writing an entire book on your own? Through a series of guided writing prompts, I will show you how to write your memoir one poem at a time. You’ll have the freedom to write your memoir chronologically, by theme, or start from present day and work backwards – it’s all up to you! Participants will need a 3-ring binder, loose leaf paper and pens. Two 3-Hour Sessions.

Instructor Bio: JoAnn LoVerde-Dropp holds a B.S. in English from the State University College at Brockport, New York and an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. She served as a student editor for The Louisville Review from 2009-2010 and currently works as an editor and writing mentor in Kennesaw, Georgia. JoAnn has been a member of The Georgia Writers’ Association since 2009, where she serves as the poetry workshop facilitator and editor for the group’s newsletter. JoAnn’s available workshops and classes include: Poetry Memoir, Visual Journaling, Introduction to the Poetry Workshop, and Enjoying Poetry for the First Time.


Other classes  offered this year by instructors, Mary Michelle Keller and Rosemary Royston. Visit http://www.glendacouncilbeall.blogspot.com/ for information on Writers Circle.

A Good Site for Personal Essay Writers

From Maureen Ryan Griffin's newsletter, I found this site with a good post for those of us who write personal essays (memoir pieces).

Check out the publications recommended by Writer Abroad.

http://www.writerabroad.com/2010/11/paying-personal-essay-markets.html