Life Writing Weekend Workshop

When: Postponed until further notice due to Covid-19
Where: Sun & Moon wellbeing centre, Leeston, Canterbury

We all have the capacity to write from our personal experience about the subjects that are important to us. On a life writing workshop with experienced tutor Deborah Shepard you will be introduced to techniques and triggers, memoir themes and topics that will enable you to discover your writing voice. Under Deborah’s gentle guidance you will have an opportunity to indulge your writing dream and record your stories in a collaborative and supportive environment. 

Course outline

​Saturday 28 March: Getting Started

• Introductions
• What brought me here?
• a conducive environment for writing
• a definition of memoir and why people write memoir
• group analysis of book excerpts on the theme ‘I was born’
• writing exercise: ‘I was born.’

Lunch

• a timeline of my life
• group analysis of book excerpts: ‘Remembering childhood’
• writing exercise: ‘Remembering childhood’

Sunday 29 March: The Road Chosen

• writing tips and guidelines for the presentation of work
• edit workshop: a group exercise
• group analysis of book excerpts on the theme 'The road chosen'
• writing exercise: ‘The road chosen: on career, family and lifelong passions’

Shared Lunch

• the defining qualities of successful authors
• how to protect your writing project and continue the work
• group analysis of book excerpts on the theme 'A self-portrait'
• writing exercise: ‘A self-portrait: where to from here?’

Learning outcomes
On completion of this course, participants will be able to write with confidence and purpose. They will have a method for accessing the stories and the means of building a collection of life stories that may feature in a personal essay, a family history project, an online blog, or a book publication.

Who should attend?
This course is designed for: new writers who want to discover their writing voice and record their stories for themselves and their family. It is for people who want to explore their inner world through writing and express their thoughts clearly and powerfully on the page. It is for those who want to capture their observations of the people who have figured in their lives and their impact on them. It is ideal for young and older writers people who have written in another genre such as fiction or poetry, or non-fiction and who want to explore memoir and also for those who have already attended a creative writing class and wish to refresh or deepen their skills.

Bookings
Places are limited. Please contact [email protected] to secure a place.
Workshop fee: $200

Deborah Shepard
Workshop Tutor
Deborah Shepard is a biographer, oral historian, journaler and life writing mentor for the New Zealand Society of Authors with many years of experience teaching memoir through Public Programmes  at the University of Auckland and the Michael King Writers’ Centre. Her books include: Reframing Women: A History of New Zealand Film (2000), Between the Lives: Partners in Art (2005), Her Life’s Work (2009) all of which were critically acclaimed for documenting the contribution of women to the arts in New Zealand. Her journal Giving Yourself to Life: A Journal of Pain, Hope and Renewal (2015) was described by poet, journal writer and novelist Elizabeth Smither as, “Humane, delicate and bold as the journals of May Sarton or Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s observation of her snail." Her latest book The Writing Life: Twelve New Zealand Authors (2018) provides an inspirational glimpse into the writing lives of twelve of New Zealand’s most loved and acclaimed elder authors.
In her spare time Deborah enjoys photographing nature, art and architecture and posting her photos on Instagram at deborah_shepard.

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