WELCOME TO MEMORIES AND MEMOIRS.

FEATURED WORKSHOP:

[Nov. 6-8, 2009] Harvesting Our Wisdom: Napa Valley Writing Retreat [Nov. 6-8, 2009] Harvesting Our Wisdom: Napa Valley Writing Retreat

Autumn: the earth releases its fruits into harvest turning toward the silence and reflection of winter darkness. In this silence, we dig deep into our inner selves, and the poetry within. Calistoga: steam arises from ancient pools of mineral water inviting busy urban souls to relax into healing waters, to find silence in nature, to spend time with the... [Read more]

Fall schedule: Advanced Writing a Healing Memoir TeleWorkshop Fall schedule: Advanced Writing a Healing Memoir TeleWorkshop

This advanced group is for those who have begun to explore the significant events in their lives and have written the early stories of their memoir. The writers in this group will deepen their progress by exploring not only techniques such as dialogue, scenes, point of view, and story structure, but delve into the emotional layering that makes up the... [Read more]

Fall Schedule: Saturday Healing Memoir and Spiritual Autobiography Fall Schedule: Saturday Healing Memoir and Spiritual Autobiography

8 sessions *A deposit holds your place for the fall series When: Saturdays in Berkeley, 10am – 1pm Dates: September 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, (November 6-8 writing retreat in Calistoga—no class), November 14, 21, December 5 Pot luck, last class Regular Price: $375 As a group, we write about the important moments in our lives–childhood memories,... [Read more]

[Oct. 5, 2009] Autumn Memoir Online Workshop: Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography/Healing Memoir [Oct. 5, 2009] Autumn Memoir Online Workshop: Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography/Healing Memoir

Schedule: Mondays for 10 Weeks Time: 11:00 AM PDT |Noon MDT | 1:00 PM CDT | 2:00 PM EDT Beginning October 5, 2009 Price: $395.00 None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Autumn Dates: Class Begins October 5, 2009 October 5, 12, 19, 26 November... [Read more]

RECENTLY FROM LINDA'S BLOG:

Writing Retreat

It was a pristine weekend in the Napa Valley as we gathered for my 10th annual Harvest Your Wisdom Retreat. The rain follwed by sun made the drive through the valley inspiring–how to describe such beauty? What “sensual details” would... [Read more]

In the golden vineyards of Napa Valley

Today I’m starting the 10th year of my retreat in Calistoga, in the heart of the Napa Valley. The drive from the SF Bay Area to the valley was full of different kinds of weather, from the soft, pillowy clouds of a rainy autumn afternoon to the... [Read more]

Writing Your Memoir–Using Scenes to Bring Your Story to Life

Today at the National Association of Memoir Writers we hosted Jordan Rosenfeld, Author of Make a Scene, and an editor at Writers Digest. She enthralled a large audience of memoir writers as she stressed the importance of using scenes–going beyond simply... [Read more]

Writing to Find Your Voice, Writing to Heal

Writing heals! When you take out a notebook and pen to write about your feelings or life events, you may not realize that you’re taking an important step in creating good health—not only emotionally but physically. According to research by Dr. James... [Read more]

Memoir Writing and Ethics

As you bring your memoir into the world to share it with family and friends or to publish it, ethical issues arise that need to be resolved. Think about the issues that concern you after you have written a few drafts of your family stories. Did you reveal... [Read more]

FREE ARTICLES

Writing a Memoir as a Healing Process

Linda Joy Myers, Ph. D. Memoir Coach and MFT Therapist linda@memoriesandmemoirs.com Writing stories heals body and soul, and is a powerful way to integrate and change our perspective about the past. Feelings long suppressed can be released by writing both painful and happy stories. Research published in the Journal of the American Medicine Association... [Read more]

Connecting the Past and the Present: Healing Abandonment and Abuse through Awareness

Linda Joy Myers, PhD. Many people I work with in therapy or in my writing-as-healing classes discover stories that surprise them—stories about the mistakes they felt their parents made, power imbalances in the family, or stories about physical or sexual abuse. The darker stories are often a surprise: when writers sat down to write, those issues were... [Read more]

Writing Healing Stories

Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D. “This works even better than therapy,” says Kara, a bright-eyed middle-aged woman, her lined notebook lying on her lap. “I’ve talked about the stuff that happened to me over and over again with lots of therapists. I’ve done all kinds of therapy, but it wasn’t until I wrote it down and told the whole story many times... [Read more]

Ghost Mothers: How to Heal Abandonment and Neglect, and Find Forgiveness

So many women talk about their relationships with their mothers—no matter how old they are. For some, their mother, from whom they have supposedly separated long ago, still occupies a central place in the psyche. She’s too close, she’s too much. She has advice, is nosy, and interferes. The daughter wants time away, she wants boundaries, and fights... [Read more]