Category Archives: Teaching Memoir Writing

A Free National Tele-Conversation on Place in Memoir–Sign Up!

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Friends. Here’s a chance for us to hear each other’s voices, literally. I will be speaking on a roundtable along with the fabulous authors Tracy Seeley and Linda Joy Myers, whom you may have met in previous posts and comments … Continue reading →

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Two Memoir Course Syllabi from Poet and Professor Jeff Gundy

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Melanie Springer Mock contributed our first course syllabus, and now, I am happy to say, we have two more from Professor Jeff Gundy of Bluffton University. Jeff has published numerous books and poems. His latest collecton on Amazon is Spoken … Continue reading →

Posted in Memoir Workshops, Taking Courses, Workshops, Conferences, Teaching Memoir Writing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The One-Hundredth Name for God: A Foreword to A Hundred Camels

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Now that Dr. Gerald L. Miller’s memoir, A Hundred Camels: A Mission Doctor’s Sojourn & Murder Trial in Somalia, has been published, and you can buy it at Amazon.com, I will share with you the foreword I contributed to the … Continue reading →

Posted in My Reviews, Spiritual Memoir, Teaching Memoir Writing, Writing Tips | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Mini-Memoir: How Long Have I Been Teaching Memoir?

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

How long have I been teaching memoir writing? On its face, the answer is, “not very,” but I can also truthfully say “about 40 years.” How can both be true?  The recent teaching comes in the form of workshops I … Continue reading →

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Fetzer Workshop on Reflective Writing: The Conclusion

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Today I finished leading the last 1.5-hour workshop in a series of four which took place at the Fetzer Institute. I think the title of this workshop–Timed Writing–may have scared away potential participants.   Sounds as jolly as retaking the SAT.  … Continue reading →

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Spiritual Autobiography Workshop II

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Yesterday I led a second workshop on spiritual autobiography at my church.  Most of the people who attended the first one came back, and about ten new folks showed up also.  The big table was full! We shared a meal … Continue reading →

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A Second Workshop on Spiritual Autobiography

Posted on November 30, 2008 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Tomorrow I lead a small group of colleagues in a workshop much like the one I taught at my church several months ago.  I will again use the Marilyn Chandler McEntyre’s essay published in Weavings.  But this time I will … Continue reading →

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Living the Questions

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

“Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers.”  –Rainer Maria Rilke I am trying to go deeper with my understanding of this famous quote, which I loved from … Continue reading →

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Creating a Space: Preparing for a Writer's Workshop, Part Two

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Wallace Stegner once said that you can’t teach writing but you can awaken it.  That’s what I hope for in the class I will teach next Monday.  We begin with creating space and thinking about the environment, both of the … Continue reading →

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A Workshop on Reflective Writing

Posted on September 30, 2008 by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Next Monday I will conduct the first of a series of four 1.5-hour-long workshops at the Fetzer Institute, the organization for which I work.  Our founder, John E. Fetzer, believed that we need to be the work in order to … Continue reading →

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