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 […]

The questions Robin Sitten and I got from our audience at the Perkins School for the Blind Thursday sure were thought-provoking. Here’s a sampling: Did you write your memoir Long Time, No See as therapy, or did you write it to share your journey with others? The people who sign up for your memoir classes, […]

Ten years ago my downtown Chicago memoir-writing class got so full that the Department on Aging started a lottery. A retired college professor named Myrna had been attending that class for years, and when her name wasn’t chosen in the lottery, she approached an organization in her own Chicago neighborhood to encourage them to sponsor […]

Mike, Whitney the Seeing Eye dog and I are heading to New England this week to meet the narrator who read the audible.com version of Writing Out Loud. Robin Sitten and I have corresponded via email, we follow each other on twitter, and of course I know her voice — I’ve listened to her sensational […]

In honor of Mother’s Day this year I asked the writers in my memoir class to tell us about the traits they share with their mothers. This one is written by Michael Graff. The “Nancy” in the essay is his wife, and the “Pink House” he refers to is their family’s vacation home near Lake […]