Everyone has a story. This workshop is about being in a safe place to finally get that story (which has been marinating in your pancreas, your liver, your heart) out onto the page. It’s about sounding like you. Using your own voice, your own language, your own rhythms, telling your own story, and taking the risk of saying, “This is who I am … This is what happened to me. And this is how I got from here to there.”
Writing a memoir is not about trying to impress anyone with how smart you are. With humor and compassion, Aronie draws you into building a safe and authentic group field, and it melts away the fear and the doubt, making your authenticity and your vulnerability the most important part of the work. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will finally get going on the book you’ve been waiting to write.
Aronie has one rule: When you finish reading, we tell you what we loved. The workshop is not about publishing. It’s about the process. You will be given prompts and time to write, and then the group will read their writings together, in the safe container built during the program. You will take away the confidence and the excitement to keep going when you get home.
Nancy Slonim Aronie is an NPR commentator, was awarded teacher of the year from Harvard University, and is the author of Writing from the Heart and Memoir as Medicine. She is the founder of the Chilmark Writing Workshop on Martha’s Vineyard and teaches nationwide at esteemed institutions such as Esalen, Kripalu, and the Omega Institute.