Write Your Life
Memoir Writing @ HPL
Huntsville Public Library Staff offer two programs to assist you in writing about your life. Sessions are designed for adults in their mature years.
1. Two Memoir Clubs
- Both clubs meet monthly except July, August, and December
- Memoir Club Classic meets 12:30-2:30 pm on the second Tuesday of the month
- Memoir Club Nouveau gathers 10-noon on the third Monday of the month
- Program fee is $10 for nine sessions for one year or $5 for the fall (September to November) or $7.50 for the winter/spring (January to June)
- For both veteran memoir writers and those getting started
- Participants write short essays on themes prepared by facilitator and read them to the group
- It is suggested New members start by writing five themed overview essays as for the Guided Autobiography sessions (see below)
Who is it for?
The Memoir Club at Huntsville Public Library is a group for older adults who want to write about their life on an ongoing monthly basis.The member mix includes new memoir writers and mature adults who have participated in the library’s six week Guided Autobiography program and want to continue writing their memoirs and sharing excerpts from them with others with the same interest in a mutually supportive atmosphere. The club may also be suitable for other older adults who have are in the process of writing a memoir and are interested in sharing parts of it with fellow memoirists and receiving non-judgmental, supportive feedback. The club is not however designed as an editing or critiquing group. Rather it supplies a monthly topic sheet and a deadline for putting pen to paper.
How does it work?
Each month (except July, August & December) a group of memoir writers meet with a facilitator at the library to read aloud to each other short autobiographical written stories.
At each session the facilitator prepares a sheet with a suggested topic for the next session, along with an expansion of the topic and a series of questions about the topic to prompt the memoirist if she or he experiences trouble getting started on the topic. Participants are free to ignore the set subject and write on an alternative one of their preference and share that with the group instead. Writing about one’s life is the point, not the specific theme.
Feedback on subjects members want to write on is welcomed. The writing shared with the group is limited to about 10 minutes per person each session for scheduling reasons.
The facilitator also attempts to allocate approximately equal time between members and also prepares the coffee, tea and sets out biscuits for the break. The sessions will be about 2 hours long.
Participants sign up for nine sessions (a year) or five sessions. There is a $10 program fee for the nine sessions. Participants who can only make the Fall (September to November) pay $5.00 and those only taking part for the Winter and Spring sessions (January to June) pay $7.50. New participants may join at the first meeting of a session in September ($10 fee), at the January session ($7.50 fee) or with the approval of the facilitator. If there are more memoirists wishing to take part than time allows, either a waiting list will be maintained or, if numbers and resources make it possible, another group may start.
Contact Nigel Tappin at 789-5232 or ntappin@huntsvillelibrary.net for more information.
2. Guided Autobiography Program
- Program fee is $10
- Sketch key elements of your life for family & friends or yourself
- Six weekly sessions
- Two-hour sessions
- Break for coffee or tea and biscuits, use of washroom, etc. half way through
- Will be offered October-November 2010 assuming enough interest
Can you write a letter? If so, you can write about your life.
"Autobiography" is your writing about your life. "Guided" autobiography" is where someone helps you get started.
Do you want to reflect on the events of your life? Have you thought of putting down an account of your life for descendants and other family or friends? If you have, but don't know where to start, the "Guided Autobiography" program @ your library can help!
The guided autobiography group will meet six weeks for two hours a session at Huntsville Public Library. If registration is sufficient the next session will start in April 2010.
This program brings together a small group of older adults and a facilitator. At the first five meetings the facilitator gives out a topic for discussion at next week's meeting and a sheet of questions to help stimulate thought and writing on it.
Meetings last up to 2 hours with a break in the middle for refreshments.
Between sessions group members write two pages - like a letter to a friend -- on the week's topic: "the major points of change in my life" (week 2); "my family, friends, loves and hates" (week 3); "my career(s) or major life work(s) (or both)" (week 4); "money, health, and other constraints in my life" (week 5); "my aspirations and goals and the meaning of my life" (week 6).
During sessions 2 through 6, group members take turns reading out their weekly 2-page letter to the group for brief, constructive, non-judgmental comment. Discussion helps participants find parallels between their experiences and gain perspective from those of others. Stories recounted by others are to be kept in confidence.
At program's end each member will have an autobiographical essay about his or her life. Each participant can then decide whether to polish and/or expand it to share with family and friends, or keep it to him/herself. S/he can also choose to present a typed copy to the Library for sharing with the community through the Muskoka Files.
Contact Nigel Tappin at the library 705-789-5232 or ntappin@huntsvillelibrary.net for more details or to express interest. |
