Pat McNees's Next Life Stories and Legacy Writing Workshops
Six Wednesday evenings, Jan. 11- Feb. 15, 2012
What will be written on your headstone? What will your obituary say? How will you be remembered, and what has your life meant? The goal in this nontraditional workshop of short personal writing is to capture your personal and family legacy for the next generation, the friends and family who will survive you. Knowing that you are writing not for publication but to set the record straight—in your own mind, as much as anything—may liberate you, allowing you to examine with candor your important life choices and experiences, achievements and mistakes, beliefs and convictions.
Through a series of exercises designed to open a rich vein of personal material, you will begin the exploration and storytelling that may help you either develop a personal or family history or write a personal legacy letter to your survivors. No whining, no boasting, no name dropping: Just an honest examination of what went on in your life or your family, with an emphasis on fleshing out the characters and stories to be found there. This course, which grew out of the warm-up exercises for Pat's workshop on ethical wills, will encourage you to reminisce deeply: to mine your life (and family) experiences for personal stories, myths, themes, and values.
Check out Pat's article on
The Beneficial Effects of Life Story and Legacy Activities (first published in Geriatric Care Management Journal, Spring 2009).
Six Wednesday evening sessions
Six Wednesday evenings, Jan. 11- Feb. 15, 2012
7:15 to 9:45 pm
Instructor Pat McNees
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815
Phone: 301 654-8664
Writer's Center online
http://www.writer.org
postmaster@writer.org
$220 for members, $260 for nonmembers
You can e-mail postmaster@writer.org and ask to be notified when workshops go on-line for registration. Include your mailing address and ask for a hard copy of their brochure of workshops.