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January 2009, Vol. 2, No 1
Story Circle Online Classes
...by, for, and about women
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In This Issue
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Meet SCN Writing Coach
Susan Tweit
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SCN's Mentor Program Launches!
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Story Circle has just launched its latest project: a writing mentorship program. If you are a self-directed writer looking for professional help with a specific writing project, or searching for guidance and direction to improve your work, you'll want to check it out.
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Online Class Program: Winter 2009
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The Story Circle Network has expanded its online writing programs for women. This winter (January 19-March 16), we are offering seven women-only classes, open to SCN members and non-members. Our online enrollment is easy and fast. But hurry. Enrollment in all classes is limited. If the class you want is already filled, try another—or check back with us in March, when we'll be listing our Spring (April-June) classes.
- "Memory to Memoir: Saving a Life One Story at a Time—and Loving It, Part 1." Taught by Paula Yost, experienced journalist, personal historian, and editor.
Overwhelmed by the idea of producing a life story? Wonder where to begin? Stop fretting and just do it. The delights and benefits of reminiscence will be revealed as you write your personal or family history, one great story at a time. In this class, we will learn effective life-writing techniques while we relax and have fun with a variety of writing and memory-jogger exercises...
more
- "Finding Joy in the Details: Using the 'Small' Stories to Tell the Large Stories of Your Life." Taught by Erin Philbin, experienced writing circle facilitator, graduate student writing supervisor.
We all have wonderful stories that are unique and important, but we may feel overwhelmed when we try to write. We want to tell the "big" stories but are uncertain about where to begin. In this class, we will generate several stories built from chosen themes. It is the little stories gathered together that tell the "big" story of our lives...
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- "Journaling a Path Through the Chakras: A Unique Approach to Journaling for Self-Discovery and Personal Growth." Taught by Amber Starfire, publisher and editor of The Writer's Eye Magazine, freelance editor, writer, and photographer.
Through journaling, we wend our way through the seven metaphorical chakras of our lives, beginning with the root chakra (related to instinct, security, survival, and human potential) and ending with the crown chakra (related to consciousness and connection with the divine), revealing the various ways we experience our lives. Journaling to reflect on these different aspects of our inner selves, and how we express or experience them, can be both enlightening and healing. Note: While using the classic Hindu chakras as a guideline, this course does not require or endorse any particular religious belief...
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- "Journaling by the Moonlight: A Woman's Path to Self-Discovery." Taught by Tina Games, Therapeutic Writing Coach, certified instructor of the Journal to the Self process, the Writing for Wellness curriculum and the Seasons of Change model.
Working with the phases of the moon as a source of transformation, women who are facing major life transitions or who may be challenged by the loss of personal identity are gently guided on a path of self-discovery. In a safe and nurturing virtual environment, each woman will travel on a spiritual, moonlit path toward a life of creative fulfillment, toward the discovery her "full moon"—a spiritual place where she can make a connection with her authentic self...
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- "Begin Blogging." Taught by Katherine Misegades, a website designer, graphic artist, and experienced blogger.
Blogs are websites that allow you to add and manage content without needing to know how to write code. Among their many uses, blogs can be used for journaling, and can be kept private by using a password. A blog can be set up and customized within an hour or two. This course offers technical information to help you set up a blog and get comfortable with managing it...
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- "Start Small Finish Big: From Memoir Vignette to Publication, Part One, Part Two." Taught by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett, co-authors of the award-winning Rosie's Daughters: The "First-Woman-to" Generation Tells Its Story.
Part One of this two-part course is designed to help you write your memoir by "starting small." Our class will cut that "book monster" down to size. Through a series of instructional videos, creative exercises, and writing assignments that use your own family photos, treasured mementos and even recipes as triggers to memory, you'll find your unique voice, and develop your personal style of expression. Then we'll help you "finish big" by showing you how to use the Internet to begin creating your own readership...
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Part Two is open to students who have completed Part One.
more
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Can't take a course now—maybe later?
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Our Spring Term classes will be offered April-June. Watch for our class listing. And to continue to receive these informational emailings, please sign up for our newsletter.
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Interested in teaching an online class for SCN?
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We are looking for women teachers/writers who want to share their passion for lifewriting by working with women (SCN members and non-members) in classes carried out on the Internet and via email. If you are a skilled writer with experience in teaching memoir, journaling, life-based fiction, and other lifewriting forms and are interested in joining our faculty, we'd like to hear from you.
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Who We Are & How to Join Us
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You don't have to be a member of Story Circle to enroll in our online classes, but we'd love to count you as one of our members. And there's a big plus! You'll save almost the cost of a membership by joining SCN and becoming eligible for a lower tuition.
Our mission: The Story Circle Network is dedicated to helping women share the stories of their lives and to raising public awareness of the importance of women's personal histories. We carry out our mission through publications, a web site, classes, workshops, writing and reading circles, and woman-focused programs. Our activities empower women to tell their stories, discover their identities through their stories, and choose to be the authors of their own lives.
Learn more about how SCN can help you tell your story on our Member Benefits web page. We offer
- our quarterly print Journal, a newsletter with features on women's lifewriting
- opportunities to publish your work
- workshops, classes, online courses
- writing circles
- an Internet Chapter
- Speaker's Bureau
- much more
Membership categories:
- Member: $35; Canada & Mexico: $45; International $50
- Supporter: $70
- Sponsor: $125
- Patron: $200
- Benefactor: $400+
Internet Chapter membership: $18
(To join the Internet chapter you must also be a member of the national organization; chapter dues are in addition to the national dues.)
To join, see our online membership form, or go to our web site & click on "Join SCN" in the "How to Join / Enroll / Pay" section of the left frame. You can pay online, or send a check to Story Circle Network, P.O. Box 500127, Austin TX 78750-0127
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E-Letters
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We publish four monthly e-Letters:
- This e-Letter brings you information about our upcoming online classes and workshops.
- The National e-Letter brings you writing tips, quotes, and book reviews.
- The Story Circle Book Reviews e-Letter brings you information about book reviews and features.
- The Internet Chapter e-Letter is sent only to members of the Internet Chapter; it features chapter news and events.
We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Story Circle Network. Please forward this e-Letter to anyone interested in lifewriting—family and friends, students, clients, members of your writing group.
If a friend has forwarded this to you, add your e-address and click below to get your own subscription.
To join any of our Story Circle Network e-Letter mailing lists, type your email address below, then click the 'Go' button:
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To unsubscribe: see link at the very bottom of this email.
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Susan Tweit has written eleven books, all of which draw on nature and the land (several have won awards); and hundreds of feature articles, essays, and columns for newspapers and magazines. She has taught dozens of workshops at colleges and universities from coast to coast (University of California - Riverside to Wofford College, South Carolina), as well as at conferences organized by groups like Story Circle Network. She has coached many writers individually, by mail and online. more...
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True Words for Women Writers
"I only wish I could write with both hands, so as not to forget one thing while I am saying another."
—St. Teresa of Avila
"I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten — happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another."
—Brenda Ueland
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Story Circle Blog
Join the conversation about
our stories at
Telling Herstories: The Broad View
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HerStories Challenge
You're invited to join our HerStories Memoir Challenge! We're reading four women's memoirs (your choice, of course!) in four months. If you need incentive (but, really, how many of us need bribery to read books?), we'll have prizes! The challenge begins January 1, so hurry on over and jump in!
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Three Publications from SCN
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Kitchen Table Stories
"I received the cookbook in today's mail—it is the first time a cookbook has brought a tear to my eye."
Kitchen Table Stories is a 160-page soft-cover cookbook and story collection from SCN members, including over 70 recipes from our members together with their funny, heartwarming, and touching stories behind those recipes (click to see the table of contents). The beautiful cover is illustrated and designed by SCN member Katherine Misegades.
Available in a spiral binding (Special Edition) or perfect binding (Trade Edition).
Order the spiral bound Special Edition through the SCN cookbook web page: $18 plus shipping and handling.
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What Wildness is This
"Powerful, important anthology."—Dallas Morning News
"A feeling of awe and a sense of female empowerment."—Booklist
What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest celebrates women's experiences in the landscapes of the Southwest. Published by the University of Texas Press and Story Circle Network, this exciting collection is made up of memoir, creative non-fiction, essay, and poetry, and includes pieces by both emerging and established writers. See our book web site for more details.
Contributors to What Wildness have created a blog of their own. Check it out here.
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Starting Points
Starting Points is SCN's writing prompt e-book. Based on the weekly writing prompts that Susan Albert sent to the Internet Chapter members for six years, this book is available for purchase as either a pdf download or in a spiral-bound edition (shown here). See the Starting Points web page for more details and to place your order with our bookseller, Lulu.com.
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To read this e-Letter on our web site, click here: www.storycircleonlineclasses.org/newsletters/090105.html
This e-Letter is a publication of the Story Circle Network, (P.O. Box 500127, Austin TX 78750-0127). It is provided free, via e-mail, for women interested in lifewriting worldwide. ©2008-2009 Story Circle Network
Feel free to forward this e-Letter to friends and colleagues with appropriate credit to Story Circle Network.
This e-Letter is written and edited by Peggy Moody & Susan Wittig Albert.
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email: programdirector@storycircleonlineclasses.org
voice: 512-454-9833
web: www.storycircleonlineclasses.org
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