Description

In this 8-week interactive class, we’ll explore what draws us to the genre of memoir, our writing and publishing goals, and what stops or blocks us from writing. In a safe and supportive environment, we’ll examine some of our favorite memoirs and consider their themes as we identify themes in our own writing. We will also consider the differences between memoir and autobiography. Issues specific to memoir writing will be discussed, including how to determine which stories to include, how it may feel to record painful memories, and what to do if your recollections are incomplete. I will share helpful resources including those that helped me learn how to write and publish without a formal writing degree. Each week, we’ll have a short writing exercise from a writing prompt. Topics covered in class will be geared towards the interests of the participants, and there will be plenty of time for Q & A. This class is suitable for any level of writing experience.

Note there will be no class on 9/25.

Dr. Karen Fine (she/her/hers) is a veterinarian and writer who lives in Central Massachusetts. Her memoir, The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life and Mortality was published in March 2023 by Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House, and became a New York Times bestseller. The book was workshopped in a Seven Bridge Writers’ Collaborative critique group from 2017-2019. Dr. Fine is also the author of a veterinary textbook, Narrative Medicine in Veterinary Practice: Improving Client Communication, Patient Care, and Veterinary Well-Being, published through CRC Press. Her articles and essays have been published in the New York Times, Time magazine, the Brevity blog, and Bark magazine, among others. She has been interviewed by NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, and Psychology Today. She co-edits Reflections, an online journal on veterinary narrative medicine, which is a medical approach that views patients in the context of their larger story. Her website is Karenfinedvm.com.