Category: MEMOIR WRITING

JANE EYRE,A WRITING WORKSHOP, AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This week’s Angelus News column is on one of the world’s most beloved novels: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. I read it last summer for the first time since late childhood and realized I’d missed a whole lot.

As reported earlier this week, I’ll be giving a week-long Memoir Writing Workshop at St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, CA, July 6-10, 2026. More on this anon and would love to see you there.

I’m off to the Central Coast next Tuesday with two kinds of home-made cookies and a surprise snack for my hosts! Happy Thanksiving to all.

11/21/2025
JOIN ME AT ST. ANDREW’S ABBEY IN VALYERMO, CALIFORNIA FOR A MEMOIR-WRITING WORKSHOP!!

THE FLAME WITHIN: WRITING YOUR LIFE

JOIN ME AT ST. ANDREW’S ABBEY IN VALYERMO, CALIFORNIA JULY 6-10, 2026 FOR A WEEK-LONG MEMOIR WRITING WORKSHOP!!

This week-long memoir writing workshop with award-winning author Heather King offers a unique opportunity to reflect, write, and grow. Designed for writers at any stage, the workshop emphasizes the value of the creative process, while the peaceful rhythms of St. Andrew’s Abbey will afford space for silence, self-inquiry, and honest expression.
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11/17/2025
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AUGUST 22, 2025: ONE SPOT REMAINING IN IRELAND WRITING WORKSHOP

MEMOIR WRITING WORKSHOP! IN CONNEMARA! COMING UP! NAB THAT LAST SPOT…

FOR MORE INFO AND TO SIGN UP:

CLICK LINK

THIS WEEK’S ANGELUS COLUMN

Boston native Nicole Treska has written a memoir to read with an ache in the throat: “Wonderland” (Simon & Schuster, $27.99).

“How do you turn the province of drunks, sailors, and hookers into a dream of bright escape?” she asks in the opening paragraph. “You build Wonderland, one of America’s first amusement parks, located on the water right outside of Boston. Wonderland only operated for a few bright seasons, from 1906 to 1910, but its legacy shines on.”

It’s one of the best books I’ve read in ages–I even wrote Nicole a fan letter–and if you love memoir, and especially if you grew up in New England, I urge you to buy and read it.

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08/22/2025
NEW!!! READ IT OUT LOUD 8-WEEK ZOOM WRITING WORKSHOP FROM MEMOIRIST HEATHER KING—

05/06/2025
INTRODUCING MY NEW SUBSTACK–BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

DESIRE LINES: BOOKS I LOVE. Memoir, eccentric travel, family dysfunction, pilgrimage, prayer, biography, the vocation of art, sinners, saints. I write myself.

HERE’S MY WELCOME PAGE.

READ MY OPENING POST HERE!

If you love books, you’re going to love this Substack. Many of you have followed me for years–subscribing would be a beautiful way to support my efforts. THANK YOU!!

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04/03/2025
WHY WRITE A MEMOIR?

“Those of us who have been true readers all our lives seldom fully realize the enormous extension of our being which we owe to authors.”

–C.S.Lewis

Steeped as I am in books, story, and memoir, I’m sometimes taken aback to come upon people who don’t much know what a memoir even is.

When they find out, they narrow their eyes and ask with a barely-disguised sneer so you just know they’re thinking: “Has your life really been that interesting?”

What’s so great about you that we need to know about it?
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04/01/2025