Chapters of Life supports the community of historians and life writers. The workshops, conferences, and events listed below may be of interest to you. Chapters of Life can present life-writing workshops that help people get started writing their memoirs, one story at a time. We also are available if you simply want a speaker to talk about life-story writing and production of memoirs. Contact us for more information about custom workshops.

Cascade Christian Writers, Spring 2024 Conference

• Cobbling Together an Income as a Writer – Julie McDonald Zander

You don’t need to have a best-selling novel to earn a living as a writer. With writing and editing skills, you can do personal histories, newspaper columns, magazine articles, freelance copywriting, freelance editing, and other paying work. Since leaving full-time work as a newspaper editor in 2000, Julie has cobbled together an income by juggling volunteer and paying projects to network, create, and craft stories that stimulate discussion, trigger memories, or leave lasting legacies on families and the community.

• Ethical Wills: Creating Your Spiritual Legacy – Julie McDonald Zander

Ethical wills are a 3,000-year-old Jewish tradition found in the Old Testament when patriarchs bestowed blessings on children and grandchildren orally. Later, these took the form of written ethical wills. What is an ethical will? How do we create one? Why would we want one? In this workshop, we’ll explore the reasons to leave behind a spiritual legacy and how to go about capturing yours for loved ones. If we have time, we’ll even write our obituaries to save our loved ones the trouble.

Free Memory into Memoir Workshop in Seattle

Cami Ostman of the Memory into Memoir program is hosting a free two-day writing retreat in Seattle, March 24-25, 2018, at the Talaris Conference Center (4000 NE 41st St, Seattle WA 98105) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 24, with an evening wine reception, and 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Sunday, March 25.

Workshop topics include:

•Find out why your story is important and needs to be written.

•Learn about the four stumbling blocks writers face and how you can crash through them.

•Practice the #1 way to calm your inner critic.

•Discover the TOP 3 ways to stay inspired, keep your butt in the chair, and finish your book.

As a past participant of two retreats, a past participant of the Memory into Memoir program, and a current program coach, I heartily vouch for the quality of Cami’s resources and guidance.

Here is the sign-up link: http://www.camiostman.net/free-two-day-retreat/

Creating Your Spiritual Legacy

Ethical wills, a 3,000-year-old Jewish tradition, enable the older generation to share values, blessings, and life lessons with children and grandchildren. As recorded in the Old Testament, Jewish patriarchs often bestowed verbal blessings on their children, particularly on their deathbeds. But you don’t have to wait until then to share your spiritual values with loved ones. During the Oregon Christian Writers Winter Conference Feb. 28, 2015, at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, I’ll show you how to start writing your ethical will. To register for the conference, click here.

Preserving Your Life Stories

I taught a workshop to the Winlock Historical Society Oct. 19, 2014, on preserving your life stories. The session featured interactive exercises to show people how to tap into their memories.

Preserving Memories in the Electronic Age

I’ll be teaching four hour-long sessions on preserving memories in the electronic age at the Kitsap Regional Library in early October. The sessions will be held in conjunction with the library’s celebration of The Leisure Seeker, which features an older couple seeking one last adventure as they travel along Route 66, projecting slides on their RV at night to relive memories.

The sessions will be held Oct. 1 and 2 at the Kitsap Regional Libary in Bremerton.

3rd Annual Oregon Archives Crawl

Saturday, October 6, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Featuring presentations at the Oregon Historical Society by Rosie the Riveters who worked on the home front during World War II. Featured are Margaret Shaver Shields, a B mechanic at Boeing; Helen Holloway, a Bendix Aviation worker; and Doris Bier, who worked at the Rainier Ordnance Depot when she was only sixteen. Their stories are featured in the book Life on the Home Front: Stories of Those Who Worked, Waited, and Worried During WWII.

http://pdxarchivists.wordpress.com/2012-crawl-details/

Association of Personal Historians’ 18th Annual Conference

October 17 through 21, St. Louis, Missouri

Workshops include this one presented by Julie McDonald Zander of Chapters of Life:

Small Projects, Steady Income: How to stay busy with a wide range of personal history projects

Not every personal history project requires hundreds of hours of work. Short photo memoirs, audio interviews, freelance editing, newspaper writing . . . these are some of the many alternatives that personal historians can explore to earn a steady income using their specialized skills. Come to this workshop and discover how to diversify your workload, pick up jobs by pursuing your passions, and make money during those dry spots between bigger projects.

http://www.personalhistorians.org/conference/c2012/annual_conference.php

Film Preservation Workshop in Portland

The University of Oregon Libraries is pleased to announce a one-day workshop in basic film preservation in Portland, Oregon, on Sat., Oct.

27, 2012. The workshop is designed for people in the Northwest working in archives, historical societies, libraries, and other institutions that have film collections but no one with expertise to handle it properly. The workshop will cover how to handle, assess, document, and store archival film, as well as how to set up a low-cost film preservation program. Attendance will be limited to 15 participants. The workshop is free, but registration is required.

For more information and to register:

https://libweb.uoregon.edu/film_workshop.html