Memoir: Writing the Story of Your Life

OPEN ENROLLMENT

Instructor: Amy Harke-Moore

Method: One-on-one instruction, work at your own pace.

Time Frame: Six lessons, to be completed within four months.

Objective: To create a personal essay and a short memoir, from idea to finished piece.

Start Date: Open

Writing level: Beginner, intermediate, or anyone who loves a creative challenge.

Cost: $50

You may enroll online and mail your check to: The Write Helper, 104 Harke Lane, Old Monroe, MO 63369. For those paying online, use PayPal button below, and you will receive a confirmation from us by email.

Curriculum: Each week the instructor will send a class lesson and homework assignment via weekly email attachments. Students will submit assignments for the instructor to critique before the following week’s class.

Week #1: Exploring Memories

Naturally, memoirs are constructed of memories. We’ll go exploring in the attic for memories, figuratively speaking. 

Week #2: Finding the Story 

Building on the previous week’s lesson, we’ll focus in and find the story within the story.

Week #3: Using the Five Senses

Now is the time to use the “senses” God gave you—five senses, I mean. We’ll learn about using the five senses to write description that comes alive. 

Week #4: Writing the Personal Essay

While different than the memoir, the personal essay is a close cousin, and a great way for the writer to practice voice. We’ll discuss the differences before setting off to write a personal essay.

Week #5: Writing the Memoir

It’s your story. We’ll talk about memoir writing—what it is and isn’t—before putting pen to paper.

Week #6: Revising 

Welcome the internal editor! It’s time for revision—or re-vision. With fresh critique from the instructor, students will improve their stories and essays for submitting to contests or publications.

Instructor bio: Amy Harke-Moore has won over sixty awards to date, most notably the Oklahoma Writers Federation Essay Award, 2001 and 2004, and Short Story Award, 2002 and 2005. Her work has appeared in the The Writer, Chicago Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin, Permafrost, Grit, Writers’ Journal, Spring Hill Review, Echoes of the Ozarks, Cuivre River Anthology, and Bellowing Ark. She also served as co-editor of the 2006 and 2007editions of the Cuivre River Anthology. She is past president of Saturday Writers, a chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild, and co-founder of The Scribe's Tribe critique group. Currently, she is editor of Saturday Writers newsletter. In her spare time she plugs away at her suspense novel set in the early 1900s.