"Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” Emily Dickinson advised. What is that but an invitation — to use the inherently unreliable narrators we are to write our own becoming. In this workshop, we’ll use speculative autobiography (real-life experience braided with “possible worlds”) to iterate the next version of ourselves. Or at least a start! In our two weeks of declaration and discovery, we’ll use guided prompts, short readings — on Jung’s shadow self, the trickster from Spanish picaresque fiction, and William James’ pluralistic universe — to identify five imaginary lives (from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way). We’ll weave one or all of them into micro-memoir that reveals our latent selves, identifies alternate paths, and summons future possibilities. Come ready to blur the line between memory and imagination — and meet yourself on the other side.
• In-Class Writing Lift: Medium
• Homework: Optional
• Workshopping Drafts: Optional
Lori Beerman (she/her) has been writing professionally for nearly 25 years. She holds an MA in English and has worked in advertising, technical and business writing, and journalism. She is self-employed, has a national byline with HealthLeaders, and is an expressive writing facilitator with The Porch’s Writing for Good program. She co-authored “Innovative Frontiers: Harnessing Virtual Reality for Burnout Prevention in Highly Sensitive Individuals” and has written for for MIT and Introvert, Dear. Her horror film essays have appeared in Soledad, Horror Obsessive, Diabolique and Creepy Lovely.
"Lori is an excellent teacher, and this is an understatement. I like to say that Lori is exceptional as a teacher that can easily walk on water and chew gum at the same time. In short, what I learned from Lori is immeasurably valuable."
"Lori is an inspiring and incredible instructor. She consistently checked in with us to focus the class in a helpful way!"
"Lori was a stupendous, engaging instructor who obviously was pulling from a wealth of knowledge about living through writing on your passions. The books and topics she referenced in our class are absolutely what I'll be working on for the remainder of the year."
