February 2012 Newsletter of Personal Essay Writing
Vol. 12, No. 2 February 2012
© 2012 Carol Celeste
All Rights Reserved
CONTENTS
Hello readers of "The Writing Well," a newsletter for better health and personal growth through life story writing.
How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? If you haven't started your 2012 plan, we still have 11 months to go and I urge you to take the leap well before December.
If one of your goals is to do some life writing, and I hope it is, what's stopping you? Perhaps topics aren't flowing from your brain, or you can't find the time that hides in the bushes of life. Bear with me as I pitch my online courses which remove both of those obstacles at little cost.
Writing Personal Essays makes a good starting point because: 1) the assignments are short, 2) topics are provided if you can't think of one on your own, 3) submission deadlines encourage beating those bushes for time to write and 4) my comments offer encouragement and improved writing by pointing out strengths as well as areas that can use work.
Life writing does more for us than leave a legacy and satisfy our innate need to discover and understand who we are. Writing is good for our health. It seems unlikely, I know, that the act of writing can affect our health, but plentiful research reveals physical and mental health benefits from life writing, and personal experience convinced me. With or without a class, I urge you to start writing today. Your work may even become an income stream, repaying the low cost of a class.
For inspiration and guidance check the article and book review in this issue, and, as always, check the list of paying markets at: Paying Markets.
Make this the year that you publish, or at least start a life writing practice. Your health, bank account, loved ones and personal satisfaction are waiting for you to act. Pick up a pen now, and write about your life, for your life.
"The course gave me more than I thought possible for the little investment she asked for her time and attention. The return is priceless."
"I enjoy all I am learning, thank you."
"I appreciate having an assignment to focus on and to draft, write and re-write. It's therapy for me and
with the way things are going, it's much needed therapy."
"I think writing is an amazing way to not only cope with the battles life presents you with but to help others do the same."
"Thanks for the good critique. I see and understand your suggestions."
As I go through drawers, cupboards and closets, long forgotten objects-relics from other ages-return me to the times, places and people involved with the acquisition. Many things happen to us as we traverse the expanse of life, and most of them hibernate in deep memory. Finding a stowed souvenir unreels mental movies of the way you were, where you were, who you were with, giving you new story topics.
Events I haven't thought of in years, decades in some cases, become real again. The feelings and recollections of ecstasy, fun and also disaster, live anew. Among my favorites are travel and childhood relics. The surprises rouse the urge to write about them.
Typical memory joggers are photos, letters, maybe pieces of art on display. When looking for inspiration for writing your life stories, seek things from the past that might be hidden from memory as well as from view. Open those cupboards, look deep into closets.
I found dozens of decorative spoons from cities I've visited gathering patina in a seldom opened kitchen cupboard. Many of those spoons are silver and haven't seen polish in a lo-o-o-ong time. Some sport coats of arms, others slivers of gems, others depict landmarks of the places they represent. These are small souvenir spoons useful for not much but sugar which I don't use. I won’t say how much time I spent lingering over those memories, but they encouraged additional titles for my list of travel tales to write.
Rocks are another favorite travel relic of mine. These really are relics. A piece of the Copacabana road divider, the Palatine hill, quartz from Antarctica, a fossilized stone from Israel, shells, not rocks, from the Caribbean, all revive special moments.
Childhood memories emerged from a rock collection and hundreds of loose stamps, along with several albums partially filled. Postage from far away countries stirred curiosity in a young girl and may have fed the yen to travel.
We all have unique stories to tell. Look to your hidden relics, the things of your life, for your enchanting stories then pick up your pen and write.
Describe your feelings on the first birthday party you remember. If you didn't have a party, write how you felt about that.
This newsletter deals with writing our own life, not someone else's, but autobiography and biography share many traits. I found advice repeatedly applied to self writing as well as to biography. Aware of this similarity, the author includes a section on autobiography and memoirs. If those terms confuse you, Hamilton tries to define them.
In the life-story genre, there are autobiography, an (Hamilton's stress) autobiography, memoir and memoirs. Autobiography, says Hamilton, includes everything written by one person, right down to blogs. "An autobiography" refers to a print account of oneself written according to a formula he says developed over the last two hundred years that involves self-exploration and confession. Memoirs he calls memories that relate life experiences connected to a specific time or event. Memoir, Hamilton claims, arose in the late twentieth century as a blend of the self-examination of an autobiography with the memories of memoirs. Still confused? Hamilton's definitions may find critics. The distinction is the degree to which a story deals with events alone or with the writer's feelings about those happenings.
The book is loaded with examples of the techniques Hamilton describes as he sketches the history of the genres. The primer takes us through all the steps of life writing, from determining your motivation to finishing the work. It also includes the legal, social and psychological consequences of airing your truth. For biography and autobiography alike, the end goes on after the subject departs when you share a life story.
Keep in mind when you post to a blog or social media outlet you are airing your life, or parts of it, to the global population. But the focus of this work, and the purpose for this review, is to share a resource for readers looking for guidance in preparing their own stories, so I won't dwell on the publishing details.
Hamilton ends with this quote from Latin poet Horace, a reminder of how we give of ourselves by publishing our own life writing: "Many heroes lived before Agamemnon; but all are unknown and unwept, extinguished in everlasting night, because they have no spirited chronicler." Whether you want to leave your own legacy or honor another's, How to Do Biography offers solid instructions in how to do it right.
Share personal essay markets you know about. Email them to carol@writingtoheal.com and I'll add them to the website list.
* Carol's Comments
* Memoir Quote
* Article - "Your Life in Things"
* Course Offerings
* Personal Essay Topic to Write About NOW
* Become a Licensee
* Therapeutic Writing Fact
* Book Review
* Markets
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CAROL'S COMMENTS 
Write to heal, write to grow, write to reflect,
Carol Celeste
carol@writingtoheal.com
www.writingtoheal.com
www.twitter.com/writingtoheal
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Memoir Quote: "You must render yourself open, maybe painfully so, and deeply interpretive toward your own
experience." Novelist Vance Bourjaily
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COURSE OFFERINGS ~
All courses are conducted by email and begin every Friday. Compare the prices to other online personal essay courses and you'll realize the value offered. Topics change with each session to lead us on new personal journeys. To register now or order a course as a gift visit Writing Courses. These courses are now offered:
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WRITING PERSONAL ESSAYS Personal Essays
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WRITING PERSONAL ESSAYS--ADVANCED WPE Advanced.
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YOUR LIFE IN ESSAYS Your Life.
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WRITING TO SELL Writing to Sell.
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WTH,WTG writers say...
"You have given me so much information. Thank you."
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ARTICLE – "Your Life in Things"
How may times have you heard someone say, following fire, hurricane or earthquake damage, "We're all safe, our possessions can be replaced"? No question, human life is more important than objects. But, I'm in the midst of de-cluttering and I must say, to a life story writer, things matter.
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PERSONAL ESSAY TOPIC
Looking for something to write about? Here's a topic to inspire your inner self to emerge.
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BECOME A LICENSEE!
Individuals, facilities and associations may license and conduct these easy-to-lead therapeutic writing and discussion programs:
* Writing for Wellness - Why wait until a specific condition strikes to write to heal? Writing helps maintain good health. This four-week expressive writing and discussion course is designed to help adults maintain good health by: reducing stress levels, improving immune system function, working through negative emotional issues, and increasing working memory. Clinical studies indicate that those who are coached in expressive writing show the greatest improvement in stress levels and memory function. Learn more at: Wellness.
* Writing About Cancer - promotes healing and growth for patients and survivors. Visit Cancer to learn more.
* Writing for Personal Caregivers - contributes to stress reduction and coping. Visit Caregivers to learn more.
* Writing for Health Care Professionals - may be eligible for CEUs in your area. Visit Care Professionals to learn more.
All courses promote personal healing and/or growth. Each license comes with lecture material, a step-by-step facilitator guide, handouts and an evaluation survey. Visit Licensing to learn more.
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Therapeutic Writing Fact
From: Masters thesis "Therapeutic Writing: A Personal and Professional Tool for Counsellors" by Barbara Ann Godin.
"Counsellors can be affected by secondary trauma due to the accumulation of clients’ traumatic memories. Therapeutic writing has been suggested as a tool for safely dissolving this secondary trauma while ensuring the confidentiality of clients..... therapeutic writing gives us the opportunity to write about feelings that would otherwise remain unexpressed."
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Book Review ~ How to Do Biography: A Primer by Nigel Hamilton
British-born Nigel Hamilton certainly has the credentials to teach life writing with 20 some biographies, including those of many US presidents, to his credit. He found it strange that biography is not taught at the college level and no book of instruction existed, so he filled the gap with this effort. My typo-free search for "biography classes college" yielded plenty of information on classes in biology, but nothing on biography. I guess Hamilton is right.
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MARKETS FOR PERSONAL ESSAYS
Contact the source listed for details and to request guidelines. An extensive list of paying markets for personal essays appears at Markets. Writing to Heal,Writing to Grow does not screen or endorse these listings. Submit at your own risk and always check guidelines first. Good luck! If a link doesn't work cut and paste the URL into your browser or search for the title.
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In the Know Traveler posts original personal travel accounts as blogs (450 words for $3) or features
(450-600 words for $10). Not much, but a place to start. Find specifics at: In The Know Traveler.
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Breathe magazine (Web and print) takes personal essays on healthy living for women. Features run 800-2,500 words, departments 500. Pay varies. Find issue themes and more details at:
Breathe.
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Country magazine shares tales about the joys of rural living. Length varies. Pays $250 to $2,000. Also check Country EXTRA: Country.
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The Most Quotable Woman I Know contest has a deadline of Feb. 29. 1,500 words max. Seeks essays about a woman NOT well-known to the public who said things that impacted your or others' lives. $10 entry fee. Prizes: $100, $50, autographed copy of The Quotable Woman by Elaine Bernstein Partow. Possible publication. Find submission and other details at: Most Quotable Woman.
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Tiny Lights Essay Contest postmark deadline Feb. 17. Two categories for personal essays: standard (2,000 words max), or flash (1,000 words max). $15 entry fee. Prizes for standard: $350, $250, $150 and three $100. Flash prizes, three $100. Possible publication. Check details at:
Tiny Lights.
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