Home arrow Our Society arrow 25th Anniversary arrow Message from the President re: Writer's Workshop
Message from the President re: Writer's Workshop Print E-mail
2010-08-12

We are very excited to announce that Lil Blume, has been commissioned to provide a writer's workshop to those members who have  committed to submitting a story to our 25th Anniversary anthology of family stories (to be formerly titled at a later date).  I know that there are society members who are sitting on the fence, in terms of making a committment, so we have decided to offer you the workshop as well, totally free!!

Please RSVP  to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you wish to reserve a spot for yourself.
 
Please read the full description of Lil's workshop that is below.
 
Warm regards,
 
Harvey Glasner

*****
 
Title:  Writing for the JGS's 25th Anniversary Book:  Family Stories and Memoirs
Date:  Sunday, September 26, 2010
Time:  1:00 - 5:00 p.m.  There will be a coffee/snack break at 3:00.  Please bring something to share. All food must be kosher - in sealed packages.
Location:  Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue, 470 Glencairn Ave., Toronto.  Room 29
                      
Workshop Description
        
JGS members have been discovering information about their ancestors.  The anthology intends to turn the information into stories, to add the human world with all its feelings and sensory experiences, its drama and comedy, to the facts we've discovered.
        
The anthology has invited stories up to 1000 words.   We'll dive immediately into finding and writing the story that most needs to be told.  Chances are you have many stories to choose from.
        
We'll also learn some easy techniques to make a story more readable.  If you have already written a story and want to use it as an teaching example, please write Lil at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
        
We will also discuss some of these questions:
   * How do I get started?
   * How do I build a story out of limited facts?
   * What has to be true?  What can I make up?  How do I handle multiple points of view and arguments about what happened?
   * Should I deal with family secrets and scandals?
   * Can I build a story our of visual materials:  a picture, a Yahrzeit list, a Yiddish letter?
   * What makes a good story?

Bring writing materials (pen, paper, or laptop).
        
Workshop Leader
    
Lil Blume is a teacher, writer, and workshop leader living in Toronto.  She has led family story workshops at the 2009 Limmud Festival in Toronto and the 2010 IJGS conference in LA as well as for JGS groups and shuls in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Toronto, and Hamilton.

Lil also teaches communication workshops in industrial, health care, and educational environments.  She is currently an instructor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Toronto.  For more information, see www.lilblume.ca.  One of Lil's stories, exploring four generations of her family's chess playing, can be found here .