A fun part of every journey is getting to know your traveling companions, and the same is true for us in the Free Five-Day Writing Challenge.
Take a moment to introduce yourself to your fellow writers in the comments section below. Include what city and state you’re in, why you joined the challenge, and what you hope to gain from the challenge. Then, ay hello to your fesllow challengers.
Hello everyone, I’m Eve. I’ve been a part of Life Writers since Patricia started the program. I’ve mostly been a quiet participant for several months, but I am still here and I am still writing. Life is hard! I’ve been writing since I was a teenager. However, my journey to writing my first memoir truly began two years ago, despite my previous attempts. All the bottled up emotions that reside in my soul from years of trauma, surviving, and existing in this crazy world need to escape. As I grow as a writer, I have learned that the more honest… Read more »
Hi Everyone,
This is my contribution for the “Write for Five Minutes” Challenge. It isn’t about travelling except that I had moved from Australia to Canada with my very English parents and family.
I’m attaching a Word docx and a pdf in case one works better than the other for you.
I am Canadian living beside Toronto but I was born in Egypt. I am always eager to attend Life Writers and I have joined several times. Warm thanks to Patricia who is so successful in providing motivation, and encouragement to me and my fellow writers. I write mostly poetry in French and in English and I was glad to have numerous ones published in literary magazines, newspapers, etc… but my great surprise was having a short story published in Canada.(it was part of a competition.) I love to write as I am retired now from a teaching career and enjoy… Read more »
Hi everyone, I’m Catherine. I’ve been in Life Writers since June of 2021. I never knew I wanted to write until I started doing it with Patricia’s help. Now it feels like while I’m getting a story “out” I’m also going “in” and taking a good look around at my memories and what formed me. My first challenge was for seven days, and it nearly did me in, but I learned a lot about my own creative process and how it impacts other expressive art forms. I believe the challenges can be like a break shot on a pool table… Read more »
Hello Writing Friends. I feel privileged to engage with all of you during this Challenge Week. I have benefitted from several of Patricia’s classes and from sharing stories with writing buddies. I hope to refine chapters I have written for my life story and to continue composing new chapters that I post on a family website. I plan to eventually publish my life story, but it may take me a lifetime.
I also like Patricia’s classes and sharing stories. Looking forward to your stories.
Hi ya’ll! I’m coming to you from the Houston area. Have been a part of this wonderful group for almost a year. Grew up moving around – 45 times before graduating high school. Born in Denver, Colorado, but have spent many years in Texas. Love the LifeWriter’s program, all the writers, and especially Patricia. Have learned so much and look forward to finishing my memoir the next year entitled, “Map of Goodbyes.”
Yes! Great title!
Julie, love the title of your memoir. Seems most appropriate.Look forward to reading your stories.
Hello! What a great topic for this month’s challenge! This program provides so many options to explore “life” events that I plan to include in a memoir. I grew up in Massachusetts and married into a large Franch Canadian family. We moved to Central Florida in the early 1970’s with two young children and experienced the boom town atmosphere of the growth fueled by Disney World. We always had lots of company! In fact, I will be traveling to New England this week for a family wedding, so I might find material for a story in real time! I look… Read more »
Your family life sounds interesting. I am looking forward to your stories.
Hi everyone,
I’m John Roche and I’m just finishing my sophomore semester with Lifewriters. My daughter inspired me to take Patricia’s Write Your Life class last October. I was a little skeptical at first. But I’ve grown to love the community. While I’m happy with my style of writing, I’ve learned so much in the past year. The community and accountability aspect has appealed to me.
I love the challenges. They take me out of my comfort zone and inspire me.
Love to watch you dance!!! Also liked your story about The Villages – we almost moved there. I hear it can be strange…those crazy golfers!
You have such an exciting life, John. I love to hear your stories.
Hello to all. I am Dar Lamb. I live in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. My claim to fame is that I am the first international member of Lifewriters. This will be my third 5 Day Challenge and I am taking it on again because it is mind-stretching, fun and keeps my creative life alive. I look forward to reading the stories of others.
Dar, we all love your stories and learn so much from you. So glad that you are a part of Lifewriters!
You’re so sweet. thanks Julie, I truly appreciate your words. I’m glad you are a Lifewriter too.
You go, Dar.
I’ll try my best John. Enjoy this challenge, I know you love one.
Interesting background!
Greetings all! Love you Patricia and have enjoyed your prior challenges and one on one consultation. I am a retired attorney/Realtor excited about exploring creative adventures…commercial leases are BORING, believe me! I started with short stories, but have recently experimented with poetry. I guess you can say my attention span has gotten shorter with age. I grew up in Africa and Europe. My mother taught law in several African universities and we traveled a great deal as a result. I look forward to getting to know my fellow writers and sharing this great adventure. Thank you Patricia for once again… Read more »
Hi Robin,
I am looking forward to reading your stories and/or poetry about your life and travels in Africa and Europe.
Nancy Archibald
Hello writers. I started Lifewriters this summer and have found it delightful to be in the company of fellow writers who want to share their writing so we can benefit from lessons learned. As a nursing instructor, most of my writing has been academic, procedural and record keeping. When I retired I became interested in Genealogy and wrote stories of my ancestors and living family members, including historical fiction, genealogy reports and profiles. I also became a certified instructor in Guided Autobiography and taught several groups about writing their life stories through the use of branching points and themes. Currently,… Read more »
Nancy, you have a very interesting background. I also did genealogy research but did not have a way to share what I found with family. I am incorporating much of my family history into my life story. Look forward to reading your stories.
Interesting background! Love the fact that you’re into genealogy…when the last 2 members of my immediate family died off (3 weeks apart) I signed up for Ancestry.com and found many interesting ancestors…it made me feel less isolated and alone. I look forward to your story!
Fellow writers, I salute you for rising to the challenge! I am Terry Deer, born in Spokane, Washington, former resident of seven other states plus England, now living in central Florida with three cats, a close friend and a backyard full of birds and squirrels–and, sometimes, the St. Johns River! Looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to learn from Patricia and each one of you.
So glad to see you, Terry. Always enjoy your writing … it’s inspirational.
Thanks, Rose! It’s good to see you on the challenge as well. I hope I can keep up!
Hello fellow Floridian! I went to Gonzaga…I look forward to your stories.
Hi, Robin! I had to look up Gonzaga, hadn’t heard of it. Sadly, we left Spokane when I was six months old. I’ve only been back once, in the 1990s, on a nostalgia trip with my parents. It was amazing to me that the apartment building where we lived in 1952 was still there, and that my dad found it. It was odd visiting the place I was born, forty-some years later.
So funny the building was still there!!!! We loved Spokane. Where did you live in England? We used to stay in London during the summers when we lived in Africa 1966-1971.
Bonjour, Writers from all horizons. Born in France, living in Montréal Québec, Canada. Unsuccessful in my search to join a french writing group, both in France and Montréal . It is on a trip to Sarasota Florida that the idea came up to search in the area. This is how I found and joined Life writers. Writing is now part of my daily activities in a way I could not have imagined a few monts back. My goal is to write about childhood memories in English, and get published. At the same time, writing a book in french about the… Read more »
Happy to hear about your writing journeys, Thierry. I’m learning to speak French in my retirement years. Maybe by the time you finish your book I’ll be able to read it. J’espère.
Thierry,
As always, brothers in testosterone.
I’m certain you will have many lovely memories to share. I look forward to hearing more about your childhood.
Hello Fellow Writers,. My name is Lorna Deane, the last girl in a family of nine children. I grew up on a cattle and citrus farm in rural Jamaica. I recently retired after many years of working in the Financial Sector, in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. My objective is to acquire tools techniques and best practice to equip and guide me in my new career as a writer.
Hello Julie, Thanks for your encouraging words. Already I’ve learnt a lot from Patricia. And I will WRITE. Look forward to reading the stories….
Yay! Jamaica! What a wonderful place to grow up!!!! Especially with such a large family!
Thank you Robin. Growing up years were idyllic. We had wonderful parents.
Hello challengers. I spent the first 22 years of my life in St. Louis, Missouri and then entered the US Air Force. After five and a half years, one year of which was in South Vietnam, i resigned and returned to school. After school, I joined the US Army retiring after 20 years total service. I then worked 20 years for the Florida Department of Children and Families and retired to Brandon , Florida. I am interested in writing an autobiography so that my daughters and other relatives can learn about my life.
I’m certain you will have many interesting stories to tell!
Hello Fellow Challengers! I am a retired farm wife, having lived on the same place on the Minnesota/Iowa border for over fifty-three years. I come from a family of eight girls, all daughters of a sawmiil man and his supportive wife.. Once on the farm, as well as helping on the farm and raising two children, I’ve held many off-farm jobs; from home health aide to data input operator, from merchandiser to a farmers market baker, with quite a few other jobs sprinkled in. My writing goes back to grade school, when I received a toy printing press and began… Read more »
Seems Life Writers has collected an interesting crowd!
Fellow writers, I’m Vern Schmitz, the oldest of twelve, born and raised on a dairy farm in central Minnesota. My earning career was with United Parcel Service (UPS). As corporate nomads, my wife, Diane, and our six daughters spent time in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania, and retired out of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1995. Feeling a calling to serve as a Catholic deacon, I spent three and one-half years in human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation and was ordained a Catholic Deacon in 1999. Diane and I now split our time between Minnesota and Florida. I am pursuing a goal of… Read more »
Vernon, your life story deserves to be told in several volumes. Being the oldest of twelve must have put you in a caregiving role for younger siblings … lots of stories there! I am very interested in your path to becoming a Deacon.
I look forward to reading your stories.
Patricia also suggested two books but right now, completing one is daunting enough. I hope to write a little more about my spiritual journey. Thanks, Rose.
Six daughters! I look forward to hearing your stories!
Thanks. Robin.