Your Life is a Story: The Art of Memoir (at BARN)

Your life is a story, and if told correctly, a very interesting one. There is an art to taking the sprawling events of your life and reducing them down to a personal essay or memoir. Using Bill Kenower’s unique inside-out approach to writing, we will look at how to tell the fine difference between telling a story about your life, and using your life to tell a story. It doesn’t matter if you want to tell the story of how you’ve climbed Mount Everest, or falling in love for the first time, all stories are worth telling when you find their heart. 

Students taking this class can expect to learn:

• How to find the narrative arc in a personal story.
• How to write about painful memories.
• How to write about people who have mistreated you.
• How to turn the most challenging moments from your life into a story that can help others.

There will be a half-hour break for lunch.

Details:

• This class will be held in BARN's Great Room located on the upper level just past the front desk.
• BARN will be practicing safety measures for the health and well-being of all participants, in accordance with state and CDC guidelines. Students and instructors will be required to wear masks, wash or sanitize hands frequently, maintain a distance of six feet between individuals, and stay home if they are sick. More BARN-wide details can be found here.

William Kenower is the author of Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion, the forthcoming Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, and the Editor-in-Chief of Author magazine. In addition to his books he’s been published in The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, Edible Seattle, Parent Map, and has been a featured blogger for the Huffington Post.