Robert Sward - Poet, Novelist, Workshop Leader

Workshops & Consulting
Writing Workshop

Autobiography for poets, fiction & non-fiction writers.
 Practical instruction in the techniques of autobiography for both
 experienced and beginning writers.

Next Workshops - Sat., Nov. 11, 2006; and Sat., Jan. 13, 2007

"And now, writing my own memoirs, I know God is in the truth. Only
 by studying actual events and questioning your own motives will the
 complex inner truths ever emerge from the darkness."
           —Mary Karr, The Liars' Club, a memoir.




Topics covered include:

- Use of dialogue & natural story telling voice
 - Using audio/visual elements for interviews
 - Methods of organizing
 - Hook, Lead, Grabber - getting the reader's attention
 - Exploring the darker side
 - Telling secrets - how far can you go?
 - Incorporating photos, maps and other documents
 - Outlets for publication

Points for discussion:

1. "If one is to try to record one's life truthfully, one must aim at
 getting into the record of it something of the disorderly
 discontinuity which makes it so absurd, unpredictable, bearable."
             — Leonard Woolf, The Journey Not the Arrival Matters.

2. "The real story of a life is the story of its humiliations."
              — George Orwell.

What to bring:

Writing Materials. Six or more family photos. Notes, diaries,
 journals, works in progress. If you wish, please include cover note
 specifying what sort of feedback would be most helpful to you. 4 to 5
 pages may be submitted in advance of the workshop.

Fee: $95 - Reserve your place now. Please make checks payable to:

Robert Sward
P.O. Box 7062
Santa Cruz, CA 95061-7062

Continental breakfast and refreshments provided. Please
bring "brown bag" lunch, notebook & pen for in-class exercises.

Limited to 12 participants.
Please arrive 9 AM, Sat. for coffee / tea & socializing. Workshop
 begins promptly at 9:30.
For questions about this or future workshops: 831.426.5247 or e-mail to robert@robertsward.com.


**Robert is the author of 30 books, including God is in the Cracks, 2006; Heavenly Sex; Four
 Incarnations; The Collected Poems; & Contemp. Authors Autobiog.
 Series, Volume 206. Winner of a Guggenheim fellowship, a Villa
 Montalvo Literary Arts Award, selected by Lucille Clifton, he has
 taught at Cornell University, the Iowa Writers'  Workshop and UC
 Santa Cruz. A "bridge person" between academic periodicals and
 literary eZines, he has served since 1994 as contributing editor to
 the Blue Moon Review and other online publications.