Post #25 – Women’s Memoirs, News – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
For the last several months, we’ve talked about Story Circle Network’s Stories from the Heart Conference. We promoted it. We blogged about it while we were at the conference. We provided our wrap up after we returned home.
Stories from the Heart: Learning, Listening, Growing
Before we let it recede into our memory bank’s category of Best Writers Conference, we asked Susan Wittig Albert, founder of Story Circle Network (SCN), to give us an insider’s view of the conference. She posted a blog on Telling HerStories about the silent auction that raised more than $2300 for SCN. The creativity of items contributed to the auction confirmed that writing is not our only outlet. We hope you’ll read Susan’s blog to learn more about that aspect of the conference.
Susan has also given us a look at a new feature of Stories from the Heart Conference — one-on-one coaching. Kendra and I were both invited to be coaches and loved the process. Each of the women who signed up with us came well-prepared. They had outlines, query letters, questions. There was no idle chit-chat. It was all business. We were thrilled to connect with their writing goals and felt that we had an opportunity to be of assistance, even in a short amount of time.
Stories from the Heart V: Creating, Connecting, Conversing
Here’s what Susan Wittig Albert tells us about these sessions:
Susan Wittig Albert, Founder of Story Circle Network and Stories from the Heart Conference Co-Chair (with Peggy Moody)
Another peek behind the scenes–into our Heart-to-Heart Coaching sessions
Susan Wittig Albert, SCN Founder
“Once Paula contributed the idea, we began to play with it. The result was a two-hour session on Friday morning February 5, before the conference officially began. We recruited fourteen coaches (almost all of them were conference presenters), with expertise in memoir writing, blogging, writing as healing, book marketing, and so on.
“We posted our coaches’ photos and bios on a web page. We publicized this activity (offered without charge) as a way of promoting the conference and the coaches themselves.
“In the middle of January, we invited conference attendees to sign up for two fifteen-minute sessions. Almost all of the sessions were filled in a matter of a few days. We were able to serve about 35 ‘clients.’
“The sessions themselves were lively and exciting–a remarkable experience for both coaches and their clients. Speaking for the coaches (I was one), we were able to talk to individuals, one-on-one, in a deep and focussed way, about the writing issues they confront in their everyday lives. The clients all said that they learned from their consultations, got specific feedback on their questions, and gained a new energy and commitment for their writing.
“We’re already thinking about ways that we can expand this activity for our 2012 conference: Stories From the Heart VI.”
IDEA: Start saving now for the next Stories from the Heart Conference to be held in Austin in 2012. Even $40 a month over the next 24 months will give you a nest egg of almost $1000. That should take care of airfare (okay, I live in California and have a fairly high airfare to get to Austin), conference fees, hotel fees, additional meals not included in the conference fees, AND some money for the fabulous silent auction.
FUN: As the conference wound down, I had time to look around and see the many ways the lone star of Texas had been used in the hotel. With no extra minutes to get a good set of photos, I took a picture of the chair in my room. I’m sharing it with you because it speaks volumes about this special conference. It definitely is “star rated.”
But wait, there was one more treat awaiting us on our way through the airport to our plane back home. Austin’s slogan greeted us in every gift store: Keep Austin Weird. Somehow that seemed just perfect. Let’s embrace our inner weirdness and Share our Weird Stories.
memoir writing
memoir
memoir coaching
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