Writing Workshops on Memoir

Awarded author, journalist, and teacher, Majorie Simmins hosted her latest writing workshop “Using the Short Story to Create a Memoir” this past Saturday at the Antigonish town library.

Awarded author, journalist, and teacher, Majorie Simmins

The goal of the event could be understood in terms of Simmins’ recent work: Memoir: Conversations and Craft (2020), an introduction to memoir for writers and fans of the genre alike.

For Simmins, with considerable experience in freelance journalism as well as an MA in literacy education, the memoir holds great value. Since publishing the already-classic Coastal Lives in 2014, she has written a second memoir Year of the Horse (2016) as well as two other books with her most recent being this June’s Somebeachsomewhere (2021). But, in between all sorts of such publications, further including book reviews in The Antigonish Review, feature articles in the Reporter, and essays in the Montreal Gazzette, Simmins consistently finds time to host workshops like the one held here at the town library last Saturday.

The creative spirit which ran through the eight (of the maximum ten) of us seated that day would best be characterized through our host’s guiding statement: “You have the right to your story”.

Simmins, inspiring in her presence and in her sense of candor from the get-go, asked us to name some memoirs we had recently read and enjoyed. Naturally, a thread ran through them. From Canadian classics such as Ondaatje’s Running in the Family, to American maestros including

Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, all the way to new-school virtuosos like Rebecca Mead (of New Yorker fame) with My Life in Middlemarch – that was just it – they were all virtuosos. The act of writing a memoir therefore appearing to some as dauntingly exclusive.

Opposite this view, Simmins coaches in her workshops across the country that the default setting for anyone writing a memoir should be to tell a story, saying: “It’s for anyone who decides to do it.”

A firm believer in the value of structure in good writing, Simmins also believes that structure has value for developing confidence in new writers. “Achievable goals are wonderful”, she says, recommending 250 words a week to her students as a terrific baseline.

Simmins’ workshops offer students excellent feedback, technical advice, and an affirmative spirit which inspires. “You have to believe in yourself. People and friends who say things like ‘oh, you’re a writer this week’ are not the kind of people you need in your life”. Her statement resonates, with several of us nodding our heads in response and at least as many inquiring of future workshops afterward.

Marjorie Simmins will be hosting another workshop at the town library on the 30th this month. For free admission, register online at: http://www.parl.ns.ca. For more information, visit: https://www.marjoriesimmins.ca to browse future dates, prices, and locations.