100 Memoirs

My husband Stuart gave me a book for Christmas I did not know existed–a pleasant surprise indeed.  Helen Alderfer, an early woman leader in the Mennonite Church and someone I have long admired, has published a book in her 90th year.  I have always loved reading about people who keep achieving their dreams well into [...]

Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose was a runaway bestseller earlier this year, due in large part to the enthusiastic embrace Oprah Winfrey gave it on her show and in the ten-week internet classes she conducted with Tolle beginning in March, 2008.  The book sold 3.5 million copies in the first [...]

I have always enjoyed biography, autobiography, and the personal essay, but my study of memoir as a subject is only two years old.  It started when I saw a 2007 literary contest announcement in the local newspaper, The Kalamazoo Gazette.  The three categories were poetry, short story and memoir. That choice was easy, since my [...]

Tomorrow I will lead a workshop on spiritual autobiography at my church. The time will be limited to four hours, so we won’t be able to do a lot of writing. Here is the plan:
1. Begin with meditation.
2. Using examples from this book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word [...]