Class Title: Write Your Travel Memoirs Instructor: Sarah White Class Term: January 23-February 27, 2010 We are not accepting any more enrollments for Sarah's class; the class has started. Class Description Relive the joys and challenges of your travels as you bring home the lessons learned by writing down the stories. Writing a travel memoir is a spectacular opportunity to practice the craft of creative nonfiction writing, as well as to discover new perspectives on your life. In this class, you will explore writing character and place descriptions, staging scenes, and conveying lessons learned. You'll work on transforming your travel experiences into autobiographical essays suitable for sharing with friends and family, or submitting for publication. Outline Unit 1: The Outbound Journey: Establishing why we write, who we write for, and what we intend to write about. Branching points: finding the compelling stories within the framework of your trip. Establishing expectations: your essays' format, length, and deadlines. Unit 2: The Traveler and Your Companions: Giving characters life. Choosing how to characterize yourself. Writing about living people: discussion of ethical issues. Unit 3: Settings: Where the Stories Live. Writer's techniques for creating compelling descriptions. Unit 4: Staging the Action in Your Anecdotes Structuring a scene: Complications, developments, & resolution. Unit 5: Coming Home: Sharing what you've learned. Finding the universal themes in your travel experiences. Writing for healing, to find meaning, and to share information or entertain. Student Skills, Equipment, and Time Required Beginning writers welcome. Students should be able to complete assignments using word processing software, including formatting documents as instructed. Each week students will spend approximately 1 hour reviewing the unit, and 2-4 hours to complete the week's writing assignments. Tuition/Fees for this course SCN members: $160. Non-SCN members: $200. Instructor Bio Sarah White has been teaching reminiscence writing to small groups in Madison, Wisconsin since 2004. She began teaching online for Story Circle Network in 2009. In her online groups she strives to preserve the sense of community created in her face-to-face classes. A published author of several business how-to books, Sarah's entered the memoir genre in 2008 with the publication of "The Plunge" in My Words Are Gonna Linger, an anthology from Personal History Press. Some of her travel memoirs have been published on Star Thrower, an online project dedicated to autobiographical narrative and funded by the Indiana Humanities Council. For more about Sarah, explore her website. Praise for Sarah's Classes I learned a lot, it was a morale booster and I appreciated Sarah White's constructive criticism. —Jane C., Austin TX I learned basics of writing travel memoir—techniques for gathering material on the road, finding the story within the story, organizing and writing the memoir. When I leave for vacation next month, I'll be taking what I've learned in Sarah White's course along with me. —Kathy W., Austin TX Although I have a degree in creative writing, I learned a lot from Sarah White's style of outlining and writing. —Elizabeth F., Ogden UT The conference calls were very helpful and satisfying—more of a feeling of a class, camaraderie, etc. Also found Sarah White's comments and suggestions on my writing piece helpful. —Chestelle S., Austin TX Sarah White was informed, organized, and enthusiastic about her subject. When I was unable to submit my main essay on time, she graciously allowed me to turn it in after the deadline and critiqued it as well. Her critiques served not only to teach but also to encourage. I would enjoy taking other classes from her. Everything about the mini-course was excellent. —Kathy W., Austin TX I greatly benefited from Sarah White's instruction and help. I would love to take another course from her. —Mary Ann P., Sugar Land TX Sarah White presented the material in a concise and clear manner, using the conference calls to clarify even further. She provided extensive feedback to me in a format that was easy to follow. Her encouraging manner and helpful suggestions made writing my travel essay exciting. —Joan G., Bellevue NE Sarah White is a master at constructive criticism. Her comments were insightful and spot on. —Janice K., Austin TX