A good friend of my sister Cheryl in Anacortes, Washington is in a book club, and on Monday afternoon I attended as a guest author. When one of the members said she loved how much Writing Out Loud taught her about Chicago, her fellow members swelled up in a chorus of uh-huhs and yeses. The reaction […]

In honor of Independence Day, I asked writers in my memoir classes to come up with 500-word essays about a time in their lives when they felt particularly independent. ”What circumstances left you feeling that way?” Writers came back with stories about riding a bike without training wheels, camping with friends during high school, their […]

In honor of Father’s Day, I asked writers in my memoir classes to put together 500-word essays about the traits they share with their fathers. After reminding them that a trait is a particular talent, characteristic, quality, or tendency someone has, I gave some examples. “Do you and your father share a similar outlook on […]

Just got news that the Library of Congress Talking Book Service has created a Braille version of Writing Out Loud — it’s available free of charge to Americans who are blind or visually impaired. The Library of Congress administers the National Library Service (NLS), a talking-book and Braille program available for free to those of […]

After receiving so many comments to my Wednesday post about service dogs, I phoned Melissa Allman, Esq,, the Advocacy and Government Relations specialist at Seeing Eye. I thought you blog readers would be interested in seeing what their take is on the plans to amend and clarify regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, and […]