MemoryWorks workshops provide a structured yet intimate space for participants to delve into their own memory work projects, experiment with creative re-search tools and hybrid forms of writing, and generate new writing in a community of fellow writers, artists, and creatives.

Each month-long workshop includes:

• three-hour weekly meetings over Zoom (usually on a Friday afternoon)
• readings and examples of memory work by “next gen” writers and artists
• in-class guided writing and take-home writing provocations
• a safe and supportive space to write together, give and receive feedback, and share resources with other memory workers

Topics range from family myths and origin stories to intergenerational silences; from conventional archival sources to secrets, lies, dreams, and ghosts; from delving into the gaps between history and memory to digging into silence, absence, and erasure. All workshops will be video recorded in case you need to miss a session.

Please check the listing of current workshops for descriptions and dates, and sign up to receive emails about new and upcoming offerings.

Whether you are just getting started or already have a project underway, it would be my privilege to work with you one-on-one to help you develop and deepen your memory work and writing.

I offer six-month mentoring packages that include:

• one-hour monthly meetings over Zoom
• submission of up to 5,000 words (20 pages) one week in advance of each meeting
• written and verbal comments on each submission, with a focus on the next gen narrator, the story they are trying to tell, and the form(s) the story needs to take
• suggested readings and writing provocations tailored to your project and designed to give you new tools and entry points into your re-search and writing
• monthly check-ins around your writing needs and project goals
• on-going email support

If you are working on a book manuscript, these one-on-one sessions can be tailored around your manuscript in progress.

For more information about one-on-one mentoring, please contact me with a brief description of your memory work project and your writing needs and goals.

For those who have completed a full draft—BRAVA!

Short Stories, Creative Nonfiction Essays, and Hybrid Work

I welcome manuscripts that are born out of a memory work project and take the form of a short story, creative nonfiction essay, or hybrid work that bends and breaks genre (including text/image hybrids) up to 7,500 words. I will read your work with my Mass Review prose editor’s cap on and give you detailed written comments and suggestions for revision at both the macro level (voice, point of view, plot or themes, movement across time and place, tension between the known and the unknown) and the micro level (word choice, sentence structure, punctuation). After I have read your manuscript, we will schedule a one-hour meeting, during which we will discuss my comments, your questions, and next steps toward potential publication.

If you are interested in a manuscript consult, please contact me with a brief description of the content, form, and number of words of your manuscript.

Book-length Manuscripts

I accept only 1-2 book manuscripts per year, and only those which pertain to memory work. I especially welcome hybrid texts that bend and break genre as a form of truth telling. In order to determine “fit,” I offer an initial manuscript consultation based on a 1-2 page book synopsis, annotated table of contents, and 10-page excerpt.

If you have a book manuscript and are interested in an initial consult, please contact me with a brief description of your manuscript: its content and form, number of words, and why you think it is a good fit with MemoryWorks.

For classes, schools, colleges, museums, and other educational settings, I am available to speak and offer workshops on the creative re-search and writing practices of MemoryWorks. I am happy to tailor presentations and workshops to the needs and goals of your particular programs and populations (e.g., class visit, faculty writing workshop).

Please contact me with the name and description of your school or organization, the kind of educational activity you are looking for, and the number of people you expect to participate.

For those seeking to develop a community memory work project, I am happy to consult with you about your community’s history, needs, and goals. I am particularly excited to seed and cultivate intergenerational projects that involve training younger generations in the practice of memory work with older generations in their own communities.

Please contact me with a brief description of your community memory work needs and goals.