Writing Stories about Ourselves

I am happy to announce that I will be teaching another memoir writing class through the Institute of Continuing Learning, an adult education program at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia.

The class will be taught online using Zoom. I have been teaching these classes online since the pandemic, and I enjoy them. Now that I don't live near Young Harris, GA, I am grateful they allow me to teach through their program. I used to teach there in person, and I will always remember the interesting students I met in my classes. 

Now that my life has taken a significant turn, I am glad I started using Zoom back in 2020. I moved from North Carolina in September of 2024 to north of Atlanta. My sister and generous brother-in-law built an apartment for me in the daylight basement of their house. I have a lovely deck overlooking a small lake where I hear the ducks quacking during the day and see turtles sunning themselves on a floating log in the middle of the water. Trees are thick on both sides of me, so I feel I am in the woods even though I am living in the city.

I continue to work with my writing groups in western NC as Program Coordinator, and the members seem to appreciate my involvement. I assume, when they no longer need my help, they will let me know.

My new class will begin on Monday, June 30, 3 - 5 PM, and continue for the next two Mondays, 3- 5 PM, July 7 and July 14.

To register for the class, go to www.ICLYHC.org and JOIN ICL first. There is a fee of $35.00. Then click on Courses and register for the class. Fee is $25 for the six hours of class. 

The title is Writing Stories about Ourselves. 

In my classes, we write short pieces, a maximum of 2000 words each week, based on prompts I offer the students. We are not writing a memoir in class, but learning how to write our true stories so they will be as interesting as a fictional story. Students learn about characterization, using place or setting to tell the story, using dialogue and action to build tension and keep the reader interested right up to the last word written.

Too many of our memoirs are stuck up on a high shelf in the homes of family members because the writer did not know how to keep the reader entertained and wondering what was going to happen next.

When we open a novel and begin reading, we want the writer to arouse our curiosity on the first page or at least the first chapter, and, if he doesn't, we often put the book aside unread. In today's culture, it is a fact that our attention span has become extremely short. We now read short emails and texts, or watch TV shows that grab us in the first scene, so we want to know what will happen next. Looking at screens all day, scrolling constantly for the next little bit of content has created a difference in how we read books.

In a memoir, we want to tell the truth, the facts, but we must do so in a way that entertains our readers. That is my mission in my classes: to help my students learn how to entertain as well as inform. 

We are storytellers, and we know that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So our written memories must have the same. 

Join us in our summer classes on Zoom. You meet the nicest people and often form a bond of friendship with someone who was a perfect stranger until you began sharing stories in class.

Remember, you have a unique story and no one can tell that story but you.

 

Writing about Real People

With six students in my class on Memoir writing, we got off to a great start Monday. I enjoyed seeing my students from a previous class and welcoming the new students who want to write about their lives.

No one is likely to write a complete memoir in my classes. I teach the writers what I know about writing their truth, creating entertaining writing that will be read in years to come. Some of the writing done in class might end up in the final stages of a book, but my plan is to teach my students the best way to put their words on the page using humor, dialogue, strong verbs, few adverbs, and to help them dig for memories that help them to learn more about themselves and the people in their lives. 

Writing can change our minds, change our ideas about people in our past. I heard a well-known writer on a podcast say he wrote a memoir in which he described his feelings about his mother and years later, he wrote another memoir after his mom suffered from dementia. He said the books were different because he saw his mother in another way. 

Whether a person publishes his writing for the public to read or for his immediate family, the act of telling his story in his voice with his own reflections can open his eyes and his heart in ways he had not thought possible. We can't write about our lives without learning more about who we are.

I am listening to a book by Pulitzer Prize winner, Rick Bragg, a southern writer who writes about "his people" meaning his family and friends in Alabama where he grew up and has moved back to live. His latest book is about dogs, especially the terrible dog he calls Speck. But in this book, we learn as much about Rick, his feelings for his beloved brother and his elderly mother as we do the trouble caused by Speck.

I have enjoyed all Rick Bragg's books that I have read and this one about the rescued Australian Shepherd that wants to herd everything he sees is one of my favorites. I like that Bragg loves this dog and the dog learns to love him as well.

If you are a fan of Rick Bragg, tell me why and what have you read?

 

Write Your Memories into Family Stories

Write Your Memories into Family Stories

with Glenda Beall

Online with Zoom 

To register, contact the Institute of Continuing Learning

 

See the calendar for the winter session Here.

Tuesdays    1:30 pm – 3:30 pm      January 26 – March 2

 (6 Sessions - $20)

Remember: You must be registered for a class 5 days prior to the class starting in order for the ICL office to process your registration and invite you to the meeting

ENTERTAIN AND ENLIGHTEN YOUR READERS WITH YOUR LIFE STORIES

I was supposed to meet at Young Harris College for a preview of classes coming up soon. But I could not be there Saturday morning.

I am excited to be teaching on Wednesday afternoons, beginning July 12, 3:15 - 5:15 p.m. through July 26 at YHC for the Institute of Continuing Learning. This is an organization formed to give opportunities for furthering education in many subjects to adults in our area.

Over the years I have taken beneficial classes at ICL. One of the best was with Kay Lake who taught several courses in computers. Kay taught without making one feel ignorant or dumb. She carefully explained everything and made books for us to bring home.

Some years ago, I taught memoir writing there to a large class of adults. I will be teaching the same subject again. With three classes of two hours each, we will only be able to hit the most important subjects: what to write, where to begin, what to leave out, and how to organize.

We can write about our lives in short true pieces. We can tell the important stories that entertain our readers. We are not writing an autobiography. We can write about a certain time in our lives and not try to include the entire span.

We can tell our readers about what was important to us and what we want them to know about us. If we are writing for our families and not for the public in general, we don't have to be a professional writer. But we do want to entertain and enlighten our readers. We don't want to spend hours and hours of time writing a book that no one reads. We want our writing to be the best it can be so we share our work in class and get feedback from classmates.

My students tell me they enjoy my classes, and I see how much they learn. You can visit ICL by going here to see the bulletin and list of classes and instructors.

Here Is what is coming

Classes at  Writers  Circle are filling for the  summer. I have had many interested in Dr. Steven Harvey's class for Saturday, but our class is full with a waiting list.

Tara Lynne Groth's marketing and publishing class for August 22 has two places open now. This is an important class for serious writers who want to publish and sell their books. The deadline for registering for Groth's class is July 1. 

Michael Diebert, Poetry Editor for the Chattahoochee Review, a  literary journal, is teaching once again at Writers Circle studio. His subject is salvaging your poetry, using those bits and pieces of poems you have in your files to create new poems. Those who attend will go home with new poems they will be happy to submit for publication. 

Registration is now open

In September we will host Scott Owens, a favorite poet and instructor in our region. 

In October, Karen Holmes, poet and author of the  popular poetry collection, Untying the Knot will teach a class at Writers Circle.  

Beginning in March, Glenda Beall teaches writing class at TCCC

Glenda  Beall teaches at TCCC in March

Title: Write Your Life Stories for Your Family or for Publishing

Location: Tri-County Community College, in Murphy, NC.
The dates:Tuesday afternoons, 6 - 8 p.m. March 24, 31 and April 7 and 14. 

I have taught adults to write stories about their lives for a number of years. The stories are often written for grandchildren or other family because the writer wants to leave a legacy of what life was like before cell phones, before computers and video games, before families were too busy and before they were scattered all over the country and around the world. The writer might want to tell about his family history for generations before him. 

Each of us has a unique story, and in this class the student will learn

• where to begin
• how to begin
• how to organize your work
• what to write and what not to write
• how to write so that your audience will want to read your stories

Each student will have several stories completed and written by the end of the course in an entertaining and interesting form. Each student will carry home a number of tools he/she can use in the future. If you have studied  with me in the past, you will not be bored. We will have new exercises and new topics to explore.

Classes for 2015

We are happy to have Paula Canup, former English teacher, writer and journalist, join our faculty in 2015. She will teach a workshop in March.  The date and time will be announced later.

We can always use a brush up on our basic skills and new writers often have forgotten those details of grammar that we learn in high school and college. I see many problems with new students such as when to use ellipses, where to place quotation marks in dialogue, what is an em dash and where to use it. How often can we use an exclamation point or when should we use it?

Put it on your calendar now to sign up for Paula’s class at Writers Circle next March.

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Glenda  Beall teaches at TCCC in March

I will be teaching in March at Tri-County Community College. The dates are: March 24, 31 and April 7 and 14. Time for all classes is 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The title of the class is Write Your Life Stories for Your Family or for Publishing.

I have taught adults to write stories about their lives for a number of years. The stories are often written for grandchildren or other family because the writer wants to leave a legacy of what life was like before cell phones, before computers and video games, before families were too busy and before they were scattered all over the country and around the world. 

Each of us has a unique story, and in this class you learn

• where to begin
• how to begin
• how to organize your work
• what to write and what not to write
• how to write so that your audience will want to read your stories

Each student will have several stories completed and written by the end of the course in an entertaining and interesting form. Each student will carry home a number of tools he/she can use in the future.