Memory and Imagination

Today our focus was on Patricia Hampl's essay, "Memory and Imagination." I read it out loud and paused along the way to have you reflect on some of her points:

• Is writing memoir an act of transcribing stories as they exist, or it is an act of discovery?
• What about inventing and re-shaping the story - what role did this play for you, if any?
• If your 5-7 memory writing is the start of a journey of writing, do you have any ideas about where it will go next? What are the possible things your story is "about," not in a topic sense, but in a deeper sense of people and relationships and issues and emotions.

At the end of the period I gave you 10+ minutes to continue with the writing you started yesterday to see where it might go next.