November 5-7(Wednesday-Friday)
In many ways, our life stories are our lives. Writing our memoirs is creative, puts our lives in perspective, adds to social history, repays our debts to others, leads to release and peace, and gives us a jumping off place for the rest of our lives. It lets us relive good experiences and come to grips with bad ones, so it's therapeutic (and a lot cheaper than therapy). Sometimes it even leads to being published.
During this workshop we will learn how to focus, develop our writing style, and get information and strategies on resources and ways to publish. The process of sharing our writing with others can be inspirational, energizing, and fun. We will write in various styles to get the feel of them, and our autobiographies will be underway by the time we return home. This could be the most elegant and beautiful gift we give the people we love.
The workshop is for beginning and experienced writers. Those who would like to lead memoir-writing workshops are welcome to come to learn this skill from a pro. We begin with dinner at 6:00 on Wednesday and go through lunch on Friday, the same length as our weekend programs, so the cost is the same, though cost reductions are available for those on a fixed income (please ask). Bring your receptivity and imagination, a large notebook, pencils or pens and, if you have them, pictures of yourself and loved ones at various stages in your life. An extra bonus will be learning some of Dr. Jacob's ways to be remarkable and outrageous.
Ruth Harriet Jacobs has vast experience leading workshops. Sociologist, gerontologist, poet, playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer, professor, pioneer, and counselor, she is the former chairperson of the Sociology Department at Clark University, a researcher at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, and visiting professor at several colleges. At 77, her mission is to inspire others to explore the many fulfilling endeavors open to older men and women. Courageous, compassionate, wise, witty, and extraordinarily articulate, Jacobs has made a career articulating the frustrations of senior citizens while giving them the tools to create a satisfying life. Six of Dr. Jacobs' eight books are on mid-life and aging issues, including Older Women Surviving and Thriving and the bestseller Be an Outrageous Older Woman: A RASP--Remarkable Aging Smart Person. Her own memoir is Women Who Touched My Life, and we welcome this long-standing friend of Rowe back again.