I am pleased to Welcome Bill Gordon back as a guest blogger today. Born and raised in Kansas, Bill lived all over the country during his nearly 50-year career in library and association management. When he retired in 2002, he was the Executive Director of The American Library Association, located here in Chicago, and has called […]

The Chicago Public Library (CPL) has asked me to lead a free four-part virtual memoir-writing workshop,.and The first class starts Tuesday, September 14 at 2 pm central time. and then at 2 pm every Tuesday up to and including October 5, 2021. You don’t have to be a Chicago resident to register, anyone anywhere can […]

here’s some happy news: the Chicago Public Library contacted me last month to see if I’d be willing to lead a three-part memoir-writing workshop on Zoom. Thanks in large part to writers in my ongoing memoir writing classes who encouraged – and continue to help – me feel comfortable using Zoom, I could, with confidence, […]

A week ago today I had a short one-on-one conversation with George R.R. Martin. He’s the guy who wrote the book Game of Thrones. And yes, the conversation was quite short. But still…. The back story: last Thursday the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Public Library Foundation honored George R.R. Martin with their Carl Sandburg […]

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 […]