Tell your stories through the Memoir Writing workshop

Do you have stories to tell? Have your friends and family been asking you to get them written down? Have you always wanted to write about your experiences but need some help to get started? Here's your chance to begin. An eight-week memoir writing workshop will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-3:45 p.m. at the Young at Heart Community Center, beginning on Tuesday March 10 and running through May 6.

Barbara Smith, retired WWCC English teacher and writer, will once again lead the three-credit memoir writing workshop this spring. The course is offered through Western Wyoming Community College and is no cost to residents 60 and older who qualify for the Senior Tuition Waiver.

According to Smith, "I believe that the true history of the West lies in the stories of real people who actually live here! A lot of people tell me that they would like to get started writing about their experiences and the stories of their lives but they just don't know how to go about it. This workshop will help get you started."

Several local residences have been participating in the workshop for several years and have amassed many stories from their lives.

"Exploring my memories had brought me joy, some sadness and even excitement," Susannah Hafner said. "It pleases me to think that I will be leaving my stories for my children and grandchildren."

Kenilynn Zanetti said, "The Memoir Writing class is a great way to learn the history of Wyoming through people's stories. It is a great way to learn how to write your own stories."

Smith has been offering these writing classes at the Senior Center since 1976.

"The neat thing about this workshop is that we give each other ideas for stories and then when we get together we share them," she said. "Getting that kind of immediate feedback really gets the motor running, and I am always amazed at the great stories I hear."

Carolyn Malson said, "After taking this class for over 15 years, I have learned a lot about writing due to the excellent instruction and the input from our peer group. It has been a rewarding experience."

The eight-week workshop is ideal for the beginner who wants to get started. Anyone interested should register for the class at the college. To register, sign up for the three-credit class as follows: Creative Writing: Memoir Writing, ENGL 2065-F1. Participants may take the class for Audit (non-credit) or for three college credits. Any resident of Sweetwater County 60 or older is eligible for the Senior Tuition Waiver. The class meets in the Multipurpose Room at the Young at Heart Community Center.

Named Wyoming's Poet Laureate by Governor Mark Gordon in the fall of 2023, Barbara Smith taught at Western for 38 years. She received the Governor's Arts award in 2007 in part for "teaching people of Rock Springs the value of their stories and the importance in writing them." She is the author of the recently published poetry collection "Putting a Name on It" and is included in a number of collections such as "Blood, Water, Wind, and Stone: An Anthology of Wyoming Writers," as well as "The Last Best Place"; "Deep West: A Literary Tour of Wyoming"; "Drive, He Said"; "Wyoming Promises"; "Leaning into the Wind"; "Crazy Woman Creek"; "Woven on the Wind"; and "Wyoming Fence Lines." She has also been the recipient of the Arizola Magnenat Award from Wyoming Writers, and the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award for Nature Writing.