JanGoldenStoryCircles please visit us and leave a comment, become a follower, and post something to add to the conversation. Thanks, Jan
Friday, July 12, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Update on homework and schedule new blog address
Calling All Writers,
All writers or aspiring writers,
Are you writing a memoir for yourself, your family or to be published? Do you want to learn more about writing? Do you want to share your writing with others? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, please come to the next Story Circle at the Safety Harbor Library on July 17th at 6 pm.
At our gatherings we write a little, read a little, learn a little and discuss writing in general.
The monthly meetings for the Story Circle are the third Wednesday of each month at the Safety Harbor Library and the first Wednesday at the Largo Library both are from 6-7:45pm. Please mark your calendar.
Safety Harbor Library 101 2nd St North Safety Harbor 34695 727-724-1525
Largo Library 120 Central Park Drive Largo 33771 727-587-6715
Your assignment, in 600 words or less:
Think about one of the most significant relationships in your life. It can be one you have now or something from your past. Pick a relationship that challenged you to enlarge your sense of self.
What did you learn?
How did you grow?
What did you give?
What did you lose?
What was the most important gift to yourself?
Remember dialog and setting. Six hundred words is not a lot, so pick your words carefully. Bring your assignment with you and read it to the group. You will receive gentle, helpful feedback and best of all, encouragement.
It is not too late for this month: Florida Writers Association (FWA)
meets the 2nd Thursday of every month at the main library in St Petersburg
from 5:30 - 7:45pm. Mark your calendars. Everyone is welcome.
Jan's Blog has a new home: http://JanGoldenStoryCircles.WordPress.com
00 to 7:45 PM
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Powerful New Moon today
We'll are into a new moon phase today in the astrological sign of
Aries. New Moons always bring new beginnings that stem from the desires
we have bubbling just underneath the surface. It marks an ideal time to
acknowledge what it is within you that now wants to rise above the
surface and take flight.
The
Aries New Moon brings forth a bold and courageous energy, stirring up
initiation. So it's a perfect time to allow yourself to "take a leap of
faith."
Where
in your life are you ready to make a BOLD move? What courageous action
are you willing to take? And what new opportunities await you when you
step outside your comfort zone?
A new moon phase always brings a time of new beginnings.
- Where in your life do you desire a new beginning?
- What would you like to “reboot?”
- Where are you in need of a recharge?
During
a new moon phase, the sky is completely black, with the exception of
little sparkles of light in the form of stars. It’s the point in every
month when the moon takes a retreat and begins to grow again, redoubling
her light and reflecting new creative energy on all worldly things.
This
phase marks the ideal time for connecting with our inner selves and our
heart’s desire. By looking for the “light” and knowing that it’s there,
somewhere, waiting to be discovered – we can reach a place where our
personal reflection begins to shed its own light.
What wants to emerge? What wants to be born?
This
is a time where dots start to connect and patterns start to reveal
themselves – just as the stars do in the night sky. Everything has a
place and everything has a purpose. Now it becomes our job to find our
place in the next phase of life’s journey.
As
a creative individual you can experience your own new moon energy by
tapping into the gifts of a new moon phase. This is a time to ponder
where you are now, what led you to this particular moment of
questioning, and where to go from here. It’s a time to explore new ways
of thinking and to prepare for a new path of travel.
What is it that you want to create for yourself – beginning now?
New Moon Energy is good for a few days before and after the new moon. You still have time! More details check out http://astrologyzone.com - Susan Miller is my my favorite astrologer.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Writing assignment for April Safety Harbor Story Circle Plus a great article
Safety Harbor Library Circle. Third Wednesday of each month 6-7:45. Largo Library Circle is the first Wednesday of each month also 6-7:45. Both circles are free and open to the public. No writing experience necessary - come on - we know you have stories to tell.
Our writing assignment for Safety Harbor - April 17 - Think about - then write about a situation where your decision was made based on "I was worried I'd offend someone."
Was it a romance, a job, a neighbor? Would your decision have been a better one, or sent you on a different path, if you said what you thought or meant instead? 600 words or less, please.
Interesting article: http://janefriedman.com/2013/04/03/worry-about-the-writing-not-about-being-a-writer/. We had the prompt "Writing a letter to your teenage self" a few months ago at Safety Harbor. Haven't done it yet at the Largo Library Circle yet.
Our writing assignment for Safety Harbor - April 17 - Think about - then write about a situation where your decision was made based on "I was worried I'd offend someone."
Was it a romance, a job, a neighbor? Would your decision have been a better one, or sent you on a different path, if you said what you thought or meant instead? 600 words or less, please.
Interesting article: http://janefriedman.com/2013/04/03/worry-about-the-writing-not-about-being-a-writer/. We had the prompt "Writing a letter to your teenage self" a few months ago at Safety Harbor. Haven't done it yet at the Largo Library Circle yet.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Safety Harbor Story Circle meets
A reminder about your assignment for January 17th Story Circle. 6:00 pm Safety Harbor Library.
Write 600 words about a person in your life who had a profound influence on you, use dialogue, gestures and mannerisms unique to that person.
See you there. Jan and Sheila
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Self-Publishing
Here is an interesting article I found on NPR today. Many of you are asking about self-publishing.
Self-Publishing: No Longer Just A Vanity Project
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/19/
See you tonight at the Safety Harbor Public Library Story Circle - 6 pm - 7:45, join us to write, to read and to share our love of writing. Members of our group are bringing a holiday story to share.
We have a second group at the Largo Library the first Wednesday of each month (same time) - come to one or both. And please leave comments on the blog - let it become a place to share. Jan
Self-Publishing: No Longer Just A Vanity Project
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/19/
See you tonight at the Safety Harbor Public Library Story Circle - 6 pm - 7:45, join us to write, to read and to share our love of writing. Members of our group are bringing a holiday story to share.
We have a second group at the Largo Library the first Wednesday of each month (same time) - come to one or both. And please leave comments on the blog - let it become a place to share. Jan
Saturday, December 1, 2012
December Safety Harbor Story Circle Assignment
Since it is December we thought a good assignment would be to write about a holiday experience. Your choice: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year.
A story from your far reaching past or a more recent event. Normally we limit you to 600 words but since it is the holiday season we are going to allow you to use 800 word or less. Be sure to add some description of the setting and of course, some dialog.
Jan has started a second Story Circle meeting at the Largo Library the first Wednesday of each month. 6-7:45 pm. Everyone is welcome.
Since it is December we thought a good assignment would be to write about a holiday experience. Your choice: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, New Year.
A story from your far reaching past or a more recent event. Normally we limit you to 600 words but since it is the holiday season we are going to allow you to use 800 word or less. Be sure to add some description of the setting and of course, some dialog.
Jan has started a second Story Circle meeting at the Largo Library the first Wednesday of each month. 6-7:45 pm. Everyone is welcome.
The Christmas Letter
I recommend these two websites:
New post on Telling Her Stories: The Broad View http://storycirclenetwork.
Writing a Better Holiday Letter by Sheila Bender http://www.writingitreal.com
The holidays are a time of turning to traditions that symbolize our love and connection to our families, friends, communities, earth, and the divine. With the pragmatism characteristic of Americans, many of us have made holiday card sending into a vehicle for mailing yearly catch-up letters. These letters allow us to perform the task of keeping in touch efficiently. Though full of news about family member’s achievements, honors, and chosen hobbies, the letters don’t usually reach their audiences on the deeper emotional and spiritual levels we want during the holidays. Giving from the heart requires more than a good news report.
I believe that writing a letter that uses the how-to form of personal essay writing will help in the creation of meaningful holiday letters.
In the how-to form, an author thinks of something she knows how to do that others she cares about might like to read about or learn how to do.
The opening paragraphs of the letter will describe what this process is and why it is important to the author. Years ago now, Virginia Harding, an attendee in one of my workshops, wrote such a letter in which she described a ritual her family with six children performed each winter harvesting persimmon fruit and making pudding. The fruit itself seemed to be about the transformation and glory of the season, she wrote, because it changed the yard into a “gallery of color” in winter. It was a visual gift and also a nourishing gift, inviting animal and human activity as squirrels, robins, bluejays, mockingbirds, opossums, and people pecked at, ate and collected the ripe fruit.
Virginia wrote that she hadn’t harvested persimmon and made pudding for 10 years and no longer lived in Palo Alto, CA where the trees had grown in her backyard. But writing about the ritual and the fruit, she noticed an ad in her local Northwest paper about a market offering persimmons. She hurried in each day for three days only to find the fruit hadn’t arrived and the manager had no idea why. She decided to substitute pear pulp with lemon saying in her letter, “But so what? Christmas without the family persimmon harvesting isn’t the same either," she mused. "The important thing is that the spirit around here is as strong as ever.”
Writing about the process led Virginia to that epiphany concerning her ritual and its finished product, one she may not have articulated if she wasn’t writing about the process of gathering persimmons for the ritual of making persimmon Christmas pudding.
Of course, Virginia included her recipe for persimmon pudding in her letter. Shse sent the letter to her friends and family, and also to the editor of Messages From the Heart, a literary journal from Tucson, Arizona (no longer in print). In the publication, the editor added a note below Virginia's piece, which read, “Believing that a letter is a gift from the heart, Virginia Harding wrote ‘A Holiday Gift’ about a special tradition and sent it with the recipe above as her holiday message of love and good wishes for friends and family.”
Whether you know how penguins raise their young or how to make your great-grandmother’s potpourri, when you write it down in the form of a letter for others, you will see that an epiphany arrives -- one that will delight you and your letter's readers.
In addition to the how-to form of the personal essay, there is another form that is useful in writing holiday letters that offer discovery for the writer and reader alike. In the cause and effect form, the writer thinks about events and decisions that have had the most impact during the preceding year—examples might be the birth of a child, the death of a pet or loved one, a move to a new city, beginning a meditation practice, acceptance into a program, taking on a leadership role, stopping each day at a local grocer’s, or deciding to tutor an adult in literacy. The letter writer will first describe the event or decision with words that appeal to the senses. When readers see, hear, taste, touch, and smell written experience, they live it themselves. All of us are connect most deeply when we share actual experience. In contrast, summaries of experience that use words like “wonderful,” “heart breaking,” or “adventurous,” for example, indicate how the author wants us to feel and think but don’t allow us to achieve these feelings ourselves from the sensory information in the experience. Better to say, “The waves came over the boat washing everything we hadn’t tied down away,” than “Our time on the boat was harrowing and frightened us enormously.”
In the cause and effect form, the letter writer next describes the changes in her life and in her perceptions caused by the event or decision. There is bound to be discovery for the letter writer as she recounts the event or decision she chose to write about and details the impact of it on her life. One of my students, Tri Nguyen, the son of refugees from Vietnam, wrote about the effects on him of getting up early to watch the sun rise on a day he was visiting on a farm. He describes scooping up grain with one hand and picking up a small chick with the other, then sitting cross-legged on the grass. He writes, “As I bring the hand with the grain to the one with the chick, I think of the simplicity of the world and how the sun just now has risen over the mountain peak to warm the earth and my face. This is a new day.” I never read these words without seeing in the action of his hand bringing the grain to the chick’s mouth, the sun rising over all of us and nourishing us. This kind of contemplation offers information from the inside of one person and speaks to the insides of others. Tri is renewed and reading him, I, too, travel back to a nourishing simplicity and feel the ways I belong to the earth.
This holiday season, remember how important your particular experience is and how in writing it down for others, you will find discovery for yourself. Sharing the discovery is the gift inside your letter, whether it comes from writing about how a particular thing you care about is done or from writing about a particular impactful event. You may feel strange centering your holiday letter on one thing, especially a little thing, and not writing everyone’s news, but give this idea a try. Using writing to share epiphanies from personal experience connects you deeply to yourself and then to those you care about.
I recommend these two websites:
New post on Telling Her Stories: The Broad View http://storycirclenetwork.
Writing a Better Holiday Letter by Sheila Bender http://www.writingitreal.com
The holidays are a time of turning to traditions that symbolize our love and connection to our families, friends, communities, earth, and the divine. With the pragmatism characteristic of Americans, many of us have made holiday card sending into a vehicle for mailing yearly catch-up letters. These letters allow us to perform the task of keeping in touch efficiently. Though full of news about family member’s achievements, honors, and chosen hobbies, the letters don’t usually reach their audiences on the deeper emotional and spiritual levels we want during the holidays. Giving from the heart requires more than a good news report.
I believe that writing a letter that uses the how-to form of personal essay writing will help in the creation of meaningful holiday letters.
In the how-to form, an author thinks of something she knows how to do that others she cares about might like to read about or learn how to do.
The opening paragraphs of the letter will describe what this process is and why it is important to the author. Years ago now, Virginia Harding, an attendee in one of my workshops, wrote such a letter in which she described a ritual her family with six children performed each winter harvesting persimmon fruit and making pudding. The fruit itself seemed to be about the transformation and glory of the season, she wrote, because it changed the yard into a “gallery of color” in winter. It was a visual gift and also a nourishing gift, inviting animal and human activity as squirrels, robins, bluejays, mockingbirds, opossums, and people pecked at, ate and collected the ripe fruit.
Virginia wrote that she hadn’t harvested persimmon and made pudding for 10 years and no longer lived in Palo Alto, CA where the trees had grown in her backyard. But writing about the ritual and the fruit, she noticed an ad in her local Northwest paper about a market offering persimmons. She hurried in each day for three days only to find the fruit hadn’t arrived and the manager had no idea why. She decided to substitute pear pulp with lemon saying in her letter, “But so what? Christmas without the family persimmon harvesting isn’t the same either," she mused. "The important thing is that the spirit around here is as strong as ever.”
Writing about the process led Virginia to that epiphany concerning her ritual and its finished product, one she may not have articulated if she wasn’t writing about the process of gathering persimmons for the ritual of making persimmon Christmas pudding.
Of course, Virginia included her recipe for persimmon pudding in her letter. Shse sent the letter to her friends and family, and also to the editor of Messages From the Heart, a literary journal from Tucson, Arizona (no longer in print). In the publication, the editor added a note below Virginia's piece, which read, “Believing that a letter is a gift from the heart, Virginia Harding wrote ‘A Holiday Gift’ about a special tradition and sent it with the recipe above as her holiday message of love and good wishes for friends and family.”
Whether you know how penguins raise their young or how to make your great-grandmother’s potpourri, when you write it down in the form of a letter for others, you will see that an epiphany arrives -- one that will delight you and your letter's readers.
In addition to the how-to form of the personal essay, there is another form that is useful in writing holiday letters that offer discovery for the writer and reader alike. In the cause and effect form, the writer thinks about events and decisions that have had the most impact during the preceding year—examples might be the birth of a child, the death of a pet or loved one, a move to a new city, beginning a meditation practice, acceptance into a program, taking on a leadership role, stopping each day at a local grocer’s, or deciding to tutor an adult in literacy. The letter writer will first describe the event or decision with words that appeal to the senses. When readers see, hear, taste, touch, and smell written experience, they live it themselves. All of us are connect most deeply when we share actual experience. In contrast, summaries of experience that use words like “wonderful,” “heart breaking,” or “adventurous,” for example, indicate how the author wants us to feel and think but don’t allow us to achieve these feelings ourselves from the sensory information in the experience. Better to say, “The waves came over the boat washing everything we hadn’t tied down away,” than “Our time on the boat was harrowing and frightened us enormously.”
In the cause and effect form, the letter writer next describes the changes in her life and in her perceptions caused by the event or decision. There is bound to be discovery for the letter writer as she recounts the event or decision she chose to write about and details the impact of it on her life. One of my students, Tri Nguyen, the son of refugees from Vietnam, wrote about the effects on him of getting up early to watch the sun rise on a day he was visiting on a farm. He describes scooping up grain with one hand and picking up a small chick with the other, then sitting cross-legged on the grass. He writes, “As I bring the hand with the grain to the one with the chick, I think of the simplicity of the world and how the sun just now has risen over the mountain peak to warm the earth and my face. This is a new day.” I never read these words without seeing in the action of his hand bringing the grain to the chick’s mouth, the sun rising over all of us and nourishing us. This kind of contemplation offers information from the inside of one person and speaks to the insides of others. Tri is renewed and reading him, I, too, travel back to a nourishing simplicity and feel the ways I belong to the earth.
This holiday season, remember how important your particular experience is and how in writing it down for others, you will find discovery for yourself. Sharing the discovery is the gift inside your letter, whether it comes from writing about how a particular thing you care about is done or from writing about a particular impactful event. You may feel strange centering your holiday letter on one thing, especially a little thing, and not writing everyone’s news, but give this idea a try. Using writing to share epiphanies from personal experience connects you deeply to yourself and then to those you care about.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
What a group we had last week at the "Telling The Stories That Changes Us" Workshop at the Dunedin Public Library. Twenty-one participated and you wrote and shared some fascinating stories.
Thank you for your excellent and specific feedback on the three-hour session.
I just finished reading "Lit" by Mary Karr a well known memoirist. A good read! When I researched her on google I found this.I linked you to the entire page of Slate because it was Memoir Week and connects you to other interesting articles on the topic. I also found some interesting video interviews of Mary on You Tube.
Now I am going to check out Liars Club by Mary Karr. Can't wait to read it. Write On! Jan
Saturday, October 27, 2012
The Courage to Write Your Story
“Lots of people think things - but they don’t say them. They know that saying them out loud would change their lives.They know that claiming their own truth is the first step off the edge of a mountain alone.”
I am reminded when I read this quote, from one of the most inspirational woman I follow, Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., a Benedictine nun, author and speaker and a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, of just how tough it can be to tell your story.
Joan knows what it is to step off that mountain alone. Her analyses and critiques of political systems and the church that she loves have been met at times with fear and harsh criticism.
I am reminded when I read this quote, from one of the most inspirational woman I follow, Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., a Benedictine nun, author and speaker and a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, of just how tough it can be to tell your story.
Joan knows what it is to step off that mountain alone. Her analyses and critiques of political systems and the church that she loves have been met at times with fear and harsh criticism.
“I would rather be criticized for what I say then for what I have failed to say.”
Talents that lie dormant in our souls destroy us from the inside out. Creation goes on creating through us. We are the only hands God has. Find the thing that stirs your heart and make room for it. Life is about the development of self to the point of unbridled joy. For me it is writing.
Talents that lie dormant in our souls destroy us from the inside out. Creation goes on creating through us. We are the only hands God has. Find the thing that stirs your heart and make room for it. Life is about the development of self to the point of unbridled joy. For me it is writing.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Silence Your Inner Critic
I don’t know about you but worrying about what the other
people in my memoir might think or how they may react to reading my story
sometimes stops me cold when I begin to write. Here are some words from Matilda
Butler and Kendra Bonnett (Story Circle Network) and writer’s of the blog Women’s
Memoirs
“Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your inner
voice,” Kendra says.” I hear this often from our students:
“My sister doesn’t think I should write a memoir.”
“My parents don’t want this family story told.”
“I’m worried I’ll offend someone.”
“I think I should get permission from other family members
before I write.”
Using any of the above as your inspiration, write about how
you hope to or are already following that advice. Is there a specific thing you
can do to change or silence the voice?
For next month write a 600 or less word piece about what you might, or
already do, to silence
the inner critic.
Remember, your words matter.
To connect to The Women's Memoir blog: Women's Memoir Link
Monday, October 15, 2012
Hi Writers,
A long delay in posts - my bad. I've been lost between the two formats while trying to transfer the blog to WordPress.
We heard some entertaining and touching stories about aprons at the Circle last month. You said it seemed like a lousy topic - until you started writing. Then some pretty interesting stuff came up. I asked some of you to post your stories here on the blog but so far no one has done so.
To take us a step further in our writing practice our home work assignment was to re-write using dialogue. We discussed how dialogue is used advance the story and to pull the reader in. Bring your edited story to read.
Most of us have held a job of some kind from babysitting, cashier, manager,
salesperson, teacher, etc. The jobs we have held may or may not have been
the one we dreamed of when we were asked "What do you want to be when you
grow up?"
Think back to a job you enjoyed. One you liked going to, one where you
learned a lot about a particular business, people or yourself. How did you
get it? Did you apply from a sign in a window or an ad in the paper? Did
you have an inside track to the position? Did the job find you?
Your assignment, in 600 words or less, is to write about getting the job you
enjoyed. In addition to writing about the experience use dialog in your
story. Dialog can help define the characters and the setting as well as
move the story along.
A long delay in posts - my bad. I've been lost between the two formats while trying to transfer the blog to WordPress.
We heard some entertaining and touching stories about aprons at the Circle last month. You said it seemed like a lousy topic - until you started writing. Then some pretty interesting stuff came up. I asked some of you to post your stories here on the blog but so far no one has done so.
To take us a step further in our writing practice our home work assignment was to re-write using dialogue. We discussed how dialogue is used advance the story and to pull the reader in. Bring your edited story to read.
Most of us have held a job of some kind from babysitting, cashier, manager,
salesperson, teacher, etc. The jobs we have held may or may not have been
the one we dreamed of when we were asked "What do you want to be when you
grow up?"
Think back to a job you enjoyed. One you liked going to, one where you
learned a lot about a particular business, people or yourself. How did you
get it? Did you apply from a sign in a window or an ad in the paper? Did
you have an inside track to the position? Did the job find you?
Your assignment, in 600 words or less, is to write about getting the job you
enjoyed. In addition to writing about the experience use dialog in your
story. Dialog can help define the characters and the setting as well as
move the story along.
Friday, August 31, 2012
People Watching
What an opportunity a vacation is for developing characters, creating scenes and discovering new plots.
If you are fortunate enough to have a vacation coming up use it to stock your writing treasure chest. Watch the way people walk, talk and what they tote. Wonder where they are going and where they just came from.
One sad thing - not many are smiling, looking up, or walking tall, most are a bit hunched over, backs rounded, right shoulder up, left shoulder bent to listen to their iphone cradled there. They seem to be leaning left as they walk.
Others are chatting away to themselves or the air - or are they talking to me? No, they’re wearing a blue tooth devise, involved in some other time and place.
I'm visiting old friends. We reminisce. They take me to the homes of their children and I get to meet the grandkids, too. I notice how they gather to eat, at the table or around the TV? What they eat - from vegan to meat and potatoes families. Are they night owls or morning people?
We tour their favorite places, two Elks Clubs, a small hole in the wall place in Beverly and the big, bright and airy Elks surrounded by windows overlooking the rocky coast in Rockport, MA. I'm with my friend Mary Jane. We exercise at the YMCA for water aerobics, and have brunch at the Wenham Tea House. I've been driven up and down my favorite coast north of Boston - to airports, subway stations, and museums.
One of the most interesting places was Charles Street in Boston where I sat at an outdoor cafe. It was around 6:30pm, horns tooting, runners getting their bodies moving after a day at the desk, or in a meeting, some with pizza boxes others with carryout dinners or bouquets of fresh flowers. Each living a life of many stories. Imagine!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
The Story Circle is expanding!
I am still at work putting the new blog together. http://www.jangoldenstorycircles.wordpress.com Meanwhile, I have great news - the Story Circle is expanding! My original vision to develop story circles at 3 libraries is coming to fruition. The first Wednesday of the month will be at the Largo Library, third Wednesday still at safety Harbor, and the fourth Wednesday will be at the Dunedin Library. The big plan is to then gather the 3 circles together quarterly. What fun and inspiration! I'm thinking of a Saturday afternoon for the quarterly. Please pass the word and let me know what you think! Write on! Jan
Monday, August 6, 2012
Changes are coming
Hello Writers,
This month we are writing a 600 word piece about an animal, any animal, real or imagined that has impacted your life in some special way. Is it a family pet, a power animal, a totem? As always we'll be anxious to hear you read your story at our next Story Circle - August 15, 6-7:45 pm at the Safety Harbor Library.
What changes are coming? I'm changing my blog to Word Press. http://www.jangoldenstorycircles.wordpress.com.I'm hoping for a smooth transition. The new blog will show all comments and give us a greater opportunity for dialogue. I want to hear your thoughts and comments, too. The new blog will be up in a few days.
A reminder that my next Dream Workshop is this week at the St Pete Beach Library. Wednesday August 8, from 6-8:00 pm 365 73rd Ave, St Pete Beach. Come and bring a friend who may agree to be your Dream Buddy. We had 25 people at the last one at the Dunedin Library - what a fun time!
This month we are writing a 600 word piece about an animal, any animal, real or imagined that has impacted your life in some special way. Is it a family pet, a power animal, a totem? As always we'll be anxious to hear you read your story at our next Story Circle - August 15, 6-7:45 pm at the Safety Harbor Library.
What changes are coming? I'm changing my blog to Word Press. http://www.jangoldenstorycircles.wordpress.com.I'm hoping for a smooth transition. The new blog will show all comments and give us a greater opportunity for dialogue. I want to hear your thoughts and comments, too. The new blog will be up in a few days.
A reminder that my next Dream Workshop is this week at the St Pete Beach Library. Wednesday August 8, from 6-8:00 pm 365 73rd Ave, St Pete Beach. Come and bring a friend who may agree to be your Dream Buddy. We had 25 people at the last one at the Dunedin Library - what a fun time!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Hey You
Writing Assignment for July 18,
2012 Story Circle Safety Harbor
Library
By Sheila McNaughton - Guest Blogger
Everyone has a name.
Some of us are called by the name we were giving at birth, or our middle
name or a combination or abbreviation of it. Others by a nickname someone along the line created.
We decide on the names of our children:
A name from the family: my father was Denver Homer. He made us all promise never to name any of our children
after him.
A dear friend, someone you knew
and loved
In honor of someone who has died: After a friend lost his son to cancer other friends found out they were pregnant. They asked if they could name their
child Jordan.
A celebrity: a friend named her son Keanu after
Keanu Reeves. He goes by KC
The city or place where they
were conceived.
An object: Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter is Apple
So many names and so many reasons why that name was picked
by you or for you or someone you know.
Your assignment in 600 words or less is to tell the story about how
someone got their name; your own,
your child, a friend, a family member.
Any questions contact Sheila at Sheila@mcngroup.net or Jan
at jangolden3@gmail.com
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
The Hero's Journey
It has been my favorite kind of day. I'm at home, reading, listening, watching and learning more about the craft of writing. It started at my bookshelf when I spotted a book loaned to me by a writer friend, Warren. The Writer's Journey, Mythic Structure For Storytellers & Screenwriters by Christopher Vogler.
In his book Vogler guides us by a simple idea: All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales. dream, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero's Journey.
It was 1988 when I awestruck by mythologist Joseph Campbell thanks to Bill Moyers who did a six part interview with Campbell which later became a book. I began to understand my current life adventure in a new way.
My agonizing decision to quit my job in 1986, sell my home and move to an island began to make sense in a new way. It would be a long time before I realized fully that I was on a Hero's (Heroine's) Journey. But that's another story. Today, I recalled that I had packed away, somewhere, the Moyers/Campbell interviews on video. I dug them out to watch.
Later at my computer I ran across a lecture given by Ray Bradbury
http://youtu.be/_W-r7ABrMYU.
If you are a writer or a wanna be, take time to listen. I liked his insistence that to become good at your craft - each night for 1,000 nights - read one short story, one poem and one essay. I'm going to do it!
Thanks Warren for the loan of the book. It was just the ticket for today. Jan
Please leave comments. I appreciate your views and your feedback.
In his book Vogler guides us by a simple idea: All stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales. dream, and movies. They are known collectively as The Hero's Journey.
It was 1988 when I awestruck by mythologist Joseph Campbell thanks to Bill Moyers who did a six part interview with Campbell which later became a book. I began to understand my current life adventure in a new way.
My agonizing decision to quit my job in 1986, sell my home and move to an island began to make sense in a new way. It would be a long time before I realized fully that I was on a Hero's (Heroine's) Journey. But that's another story. Today, I recalled that I had packed away, somewhere, the Moyers/Campbell interviews on video. I dug them out to watch.
Later at my computer I ran across a lecture given by Ray Bradbury
http://youtu.be/_W-r7ABrMYU.
If you are a writer or a wanna be, take time to listen. I liked his insistence that to become good at your craft - each night for 1,000 nights - read one short story, one poem and one essay. I'm going to do it!
Thanks Warren for the loan of the book. It was just the ticket for today. Jan
Please leave comments. I appreciate your views and your feedback.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Dear Photograph
Assignment for Story Circle Writers Group, Safety Harbor Library, June 20, 6-7:45 pm.
Find
a photo of yourself at an active age/time from age 6 to 18. Write 600 words or
less as a "Dear Photograph" piece. Here is a start off example - Dear
Jan, I notice in this photograph of you at about 6 years old that you are
standing erect, arms straight down, and you seem ready to burst with
exuberance. I never noticed until many years later that your fists are
clenched. I've seen this in several photos of you at that age. Looking back
over many years I see a little girl being a little held down, held back,
hostage to the times when little girls had to be seen and not heard, always
wear a dress and "act like a lady." Sit straight in your chair, keep
your knees together, and above all never climb a tree.
This
is the start to my piece, which I'll bring to read on June 20th.
Thanks
for coming back to the blog. Please sign in as a follower and you will
automatically receive each update. Let me know if you have a problem getting
it.
I
have been on a sabbatical since my last post in January, since then I've moved
twice and didn't always have access to the Internet from home. Now you will see
me post on a more regular basis. Thanks for your continued interest.
I'd
like to post a couple of your Dear Photograph Stories on the blog. Interested?
Please say so in the comments section.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Waiting & Creating
Waiting at the Largo library
I think of things to write -– they pass through my mind like
a summer breeze—unexpected, refreshing, and gone. Now, I write and wonder in
which direction they have floated—molecules of creativity. I wish I had a
little vacuum to draw them back to re-form into sentence gems or story.
I try not to lust for:
Mountains and their majesty – but I do
For bare skin touching mine – but I do
For a paycheck for time spent writing – but I do
For my doorbell to ring, hands to reach out, these flowers
are for you
Because your soul is beautiful
For a firm hand on my back guiding me in a Rumba
For a waterfall under which I’d stand
Laughing and singing – but I do
For money in my pocket for a ticket to hear a symphony
But I do
Now the parking lot fills, a line forms at the library door .
. . it lifts my heart to see so many waiting for the doors of learning to swing
wide open—to read the words of writers—early on a Monday morning in January.
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