After a writer’s meeting where would you want to go? A fancy restaurant with “bistro” in it’s name? A malt shop reminding you of high school? The Woolworth counter? Or…McDonald’s? For the four of us, it was definitely McDonald’s only a few blocks down the street in Alton, Illinois darkness. Safety in numbers with more…
At the Story Circle Network Conference “Writing from the Heart V” in Austin, Texas presented a workshop “Story Poems: A Tool for Writing Our Stories.” At the Missouri Writers Guild Conference I presented a variation called: “Prose? Poetry? Who knows?” I enjoy exploring the line between the two genres. We toggle back and forth and…
Womens Memoir is running a 2-part series Stephanie Farrow and I have written on the topic “Who Owns the Story?” We’re exploring issues of family story and memoir. There are several fun writing prompts at the end of each post.
Want to know more about story poems as a tool for writing memoir? Listen to this Story Circle Network podcast with Janet Riehl.
Go here to sign-up for Story Circle Network’s 2011 Conference “Stories from the Heart.” This fifth national memoir gathering in Texas February 5-7 is a boost for women with stories to tell.
Round tomato with a tough skin. Sharp knife. Ouch. My skin not as tough as the tomato Blood and tomatoes are both red. Thus began my afternoon adventure. Not at all what I’d planned. The index finger on my left hand bled like a stuck pig soaking through cotton ball after cotton ball. For 1…
MEMOIR MOVES READER INTO LIGHT In Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist, Sharman Apt Russell invites the reader on a quest to resolve the tensions inevitable to one who proposes to live consciously: living in the nature of the beautiful Gila Valley, New Mexico versus maintaining a job and children’s activities in…
I reviewed this book for Story Circle Book Reviews (reviewing books by, for, and about women) and the review appears on Amazon. It’s good for the book and the whole shebang whenever you mark a review “helpful” there. Love it, if you would…..Janet ____________________ A Coming of Age Story of a Girl and a Country…
Six-word memoir was hot this year. And, it’s fun as well. Some time back I phoned in my 6-word memoir: Country girl roamed. Home grazing sweetest. and my 6-word description of “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” A downhome family lovestory beyond death. for the May Story Circle Network Podcast. Frankly, I’d forgotten all about it. Then,…
First off, let me say I consider that the reader section on the Amazon book product pages are, for the most part, best termed as “comments” rather than “reviews”—which usually would be rather over-stating the case. Secondly, I am frequently appalled by the casual way in which readers in these comment sections reveal their ignorance,…