10 Unusual Prompts & The Art of Living and Writing (Vol VI, Issue 1)

Published: Fri, 01/24/20

Dear Readers,

Adjusting the volume number on this edition made me realize that I'm in my 6th year publishing this newsletter. Truth be told, it often is a chore to get this out once a month. I have failed at that now and then, but whenever I actually do get it out, I always receive a few appreciate emails in return. Those make it all worthwhile!

So, if you have a minute after reading through this edition, I'd love it if you wrote back to let me know what you appreciate about my newsletter, and what kind of content you'd like to see more of. That'll help me energize the process!

Click to download.

As I just put together my latest newsletter sign-up bonus, 10 Unusual Prompts to Help You Start Writing your Family History, I am offering it for you here ahead of everybody else as you are subscribers already!

Please remember that if you have any questions regarding writing stories from family history, please send them to me. I'd be happy to answer them in my Advice Column.

I'll be teaching more sessions of my workshop Shaping Family History into Compelling Stories; the following are already scheduled:

Monday, May 4 @ ModernWell, Minneapolis, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 13 @ StoryStudio Chicago, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. (link isn't up yet)

I am excited that this time around I won't be traveling to Minneapolis/St. Paul in the winter (see pictures of my visit to the Ice Palace in St. Paul two years ago). I will also get to visit my daughter who's in her first year as a veterinary student at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Ice Palace, St. Paul, Minnesota, January 2018

You might recall from my December newsletter that I resolved to go on more Artist Dates this year in order to replenish my creative well because I felt so depleted after publishing How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History. This is following one of the prescriptions in The Artist's Way that I had been sorely neglecting.

I am happy to report that I am off to a good start with that resolution! So far I've managed two Artist's Dates this month. I am on a quest to explore all the corners of the Art Institute of Chicago that I have never been to, of which there are plenty as I usually head straight for a special exhibition when I'm there, or I take visitors to see the museum's highlights.

And so, on my last visit, I discovered the exhibit Egoyomi: Picture Calendars for the New Year, of which I'll share a few impressions with you here as the topic fits storytelling and the first month of the year:

Fascinating, isn't it? That the production of calendars for the public would be forbidden? I particularly liked the following calendar print:

I'll leave you with this impression of winter in imperial Japan, and wish you a good winter of creative replenishing wherever you are in this world! And please don't forget to post a review to Amazon if you have read How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History. Each and every review helps make the book more discoverable to new readers.

Thank you and all the best,

www.annettegendler.com