“Mining the World for Meaning: How to Move Beyond the Personal in Memoir” with Donna M. Johnson
May 6 2023 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
$59.00 – $119.00
This Event is for Members only.
Click here to learn more about benefits of membership
$59 for Members
$119 for Non-Members
Can’t make it to the live class? No problem! All classes are recorded and made available to class registrants for one month.
How do you make meaning out of your personal experiences?
In this class, we will dig deep into our personal narratives while looking outside of ourselves for ideas, events and motifs that link our experiences with larger threads of meaning. We will explore how associative thinking, research, reflection and personal culpability expand and deepen nonfiction stories. Instruction includes brief lectures, reading and responding to short pieces of creative writing, as well as the use of writing prompts. Writers will not be required to read work aloud.
TAKE THIS CLASS IF:
- You’re interested in learning more about writing memoir or personal essays.
- The personal elements of your narrative feel too personal.
- You’re looking for ways to expand and layer your story in revision.
The deadline to register for this class is Friday, May 5 at 5:00 PM CT.
Instructor
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Donna M. Johnson is the author of Holy Ghost Girl, a memoir critically acclaimed by the New York Times, O Magazine, Texas Monthly, NPR’s Interfaith Voices, People and many other publications and blogs. Donna's work has been collected in two outstanding anthologies, Beyond Belief and Her Texas. She has written for The Rumpus, Psychology Today, The Nervous Breakdown, Shambhala Sun, Huffington Post, The Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman. She is currently at work on a project that combines investigative journalism with personal narrative.
Before purchasing, please read all policies as noted below and on our Classes page.
If your browser has difficulty with our website store, or if you prefer to mail in a check, click here for a class registration form. The document provides instructions on where to mail it. If you prefer this option, please email wlt@writersleague.org with a copy of the form as well. We are working out of our office at this time.
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Confirm you are logged into your account first and foremost. The member price will only appear when you are logged into your account and have an active membership on file. If you are having trouble accessing your account, please email member@writersleague.org and explain the situation.
Class & Event Registration Policy
Once a purchase has been made, registrations are not refundable and cannot be transferred to a different class or event. No exceptions will be made. If you purchase a registration and then find you cannot attend the class or event, someone else can attend in your stead. Simply contact us at wlt@writersleague.org and let us know the name and contact information for the person who will be using the registration so that we can update the class or event roster.
Credit Card Transaction Handling Fee Policy
All credit card transactions will incur a 4% handling fee. If you’d prefer to pay by check for membership, a class, or an event, you can use the provided forms on the membership or event pages and mail to: WLT, P.O. Box 14355, Austin, TX, 78704.
HOW WLT CLASSES WORK:
Our classes offer a combination of lecture and practical exercises, determined by the individual instructor, on focused aspects of the craft and business of writing. Your fellow participants will come from a range of writing experience, from beginners to people with MFA degrees and published books. WLT instructors, participants, and administrators all work together to create a welcoming, supportive environment.If you haven’t taken a class with us in recent years, feel free to email WLT Program Director Sam Babiak at sam@writersleague.org if you’d like to discuss whether our programming is the right fit for your needs.
HOW ONLINE CLASSES WORK:
Once you register for the class, you’ll receive an email with detailed instructions no later than 48 hours before the class date. You should expect 2-2.5 hours of direct teaching and 30 minutes of Q&A (for three hours total). If you need to leave the class early or can’t attend the class on that date, all registrants will have access to the recording for one month after the class date. No microphone or camera required, just an Internet connection capable of streaming video. All online classes are hosted on Zoom. To learn more about how Zoom works, click HERE.
Plan to log in to the online platform several hours before the class so that you can update your software or any other settings required to access the platform. (Updates usually only take a few minutes, but you don’t want to wait until the beginning of class.) Questions? Email us at wlt@writersleague.org.
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.
Writers’ League of Texas classes and workshops are also funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts – Investing in a Creative Texas. For more information, go to www.arts.texas.gov.
This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
This project is supported in part by the Mid-America Arts Alliance. For more information, go to www.maaa.org.
