How to Begin Your Life Story

“My mind is full of so many pictures— with each one I could build a different room, each room could lead me to a memory…”
— Mira Bartók (from The Memory Palace)

Tristine Rainer, in Your Life as Story, writes: “…from the specificity of the scene, your most unexpected revelations come.” This 4-week workshop will set the foundation for starting one’s memoir. Participants will learn concrete skills for writing scenes and discover new tools for “writing toward the truth” by engaging both memory and imagination. Writers will learn how to establish a clear sense of place; create vivid scenes with visceral details and images; build and portray strong characters; and develop tone and voice. In each workshop session, there will be time to write. Participants will discover how personal photos and other memorabilia can become catalysts for new writings. Each writer can expect to complete one full story with ideas for revision. Most of all, the class will be a rich experience with the potential for new and unexpected revelations!
Suggested Text: Mira Bartók. The Memory Palace: A Memoir. Free Press: New York, 2011

When: Mondays, Feb 18 – Mar 11, 1:00-4:00pm
Where: The Windmill Inn, 4250 N. Campbell Ave.
Cost: $125 (4 sessions)

Instructor: Rita Maria Magdaleno was born in Germany & grew up in Marcos de Niza, south-side
Phoenix, Arizona. Rita’s mother was a German war bride & Rita’s father was from Mexico. Rita works
as a poet in the schools for the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Also, she has facilitated journal-writing
for cancer survivors & “Writing for Renewal” workshops. Publications include: Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, & My Mother, University of Arizona Press (2003), My New Backyard Garden, a bilingual
children’s book (2006), & They Opened Their Hearts: Tucson’s Elders Tell WWII Stories to Tucson’s Youth – co-editor (2005). Rita’s poems & stories appear in national and international publications: Nimrod International Journal, Camino de Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina & Latino Writing; Puerto del Sol; Walking the Twilight: Women Writers of the Southwest; Fever Dreams: Contemporary Arizona Poets; and Neueste Chicano Lyrik: New Chicano Poetry.

THE LEARNING CURVE Spring 2013 VISUAL ART & WRITING WORKSHOPS