Writers and Editors

WRITING FOR CHANGE CONFERENCE
August 16 & 17, 2008
at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco

Want to Change the World? The San Francisco Writing for Change Conference Can Help.
Gay Hendricks, coauthor of "You've Got to Read this Book!," will be a keynoter at the Second San Francisco Writing for Change Conference, Saturday and Sunday, August l6 & l7 at the Hotel Kabuki. The SFW4CC is
the first conference devoted to nonfiction writing about any kind of change, from the personal to the planetary, including the environment, politics, health, culture, and spirituality. The theme of the conference: "Changing the World One Book at a Time." New and published writers will be able to learn from bestselling authors, editor and agent and get feedback on their work. Registration: $395, including meals. For information and registration, visit
http://www.SFWritingforChange.org
415 673-0939

Washington (DC) Biography Group

Next meeting: Sometime in September. Date to come. .

The WBG meets once a month, usually on a Monday from 7 to 9 pm at the Washington International School, 3100 Macomb St., NW, Washington DC DC 20008.

The meeting is held in the Terrace Room at the back of and on the first floor of the main building. Members often bring a snack or drink to share. We send out e-mail notices of the meeting dates and topics, which are also posted under “Events” on Pat McNees’s website (at www.patmcnees.com) or here. E-mail Pat if you want to be on the e-mail notice list.

Pat's next Life Stories and Legacy Writing workshop runs five Wednesdays, tentatively mid-September through mid-October, 2008, 7 to 9:30 pm, at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD-- no class the first Wednesday in October.

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 Knowing that you are writing not for publication but to set the record straight—in your own mind, as much as anything—may liberate you, allowing you to examine with candor your important life choices and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.

Five Wednesday evening sessions
April 16 - May 21 (no class May 7)
7 to 9:30 pm
Instructor Pat McNees
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815
Phone: 301 654-8664
http://www.writer.org
postmaster@writer.org
$165 for members, $185 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.