Telling Our Stories

Workshop # 60
Allan Brick

Life's significant meanings are revealed by the personal tale, concretely remembered, vividly told. We will write our memories and read them to each other, thus listening more deeply to ourselves in the Spirit. Allan Brick is formerly a professor of literature and writing at Hunter College.

Percentage of time:
Worship/worship-sharing 10; Lecture 10; Discussion 30; Experiential 50

Adults only

Participants will gain confidence and increase ability in their writing and will gain access to significant personal memories. They will experience others as persons uniquely individual while at the same time people quite like themselves. We will cover writing methods, especially how to get beyond writing blocks and open to the fluent srteam of self expression. Everyone, experienced writers or not, can write and can write well! 

In most class sessions we will be reading what we have written during the workshop; here the emphasis will be on careful listening and positive focused feedback in the Spirit. 

We will make use of Russell Baker's GROWING UP -- which ideally (though not by requirement) participants will read ahead of time.  We will emphasize particularity of experience as the basis of good writing in the form of meaningful stories.  Chapters and passages in Baker will be used as a model. Also we will make use of the writing handbook, Natalie Goldberg, WRITING DOWN THE BONES. 

Participants should bring bring notebooks (8 1/2 by 11 is best) and writing implements. Laptops are okay.

Typical daily format will be:  Worship Sharing (20 minutes), Writing time (varied, normally 50 minutes to an hour each day); Reading and feedback (organized in relation to writing time and pieces forthcomint); Instructor comments (15 minutes).