Finding the Story in Ordinary Objects: Memoir, Micro-Memoir & Storytelling Skills, Sante Fe, New Mexico, May 10-14, 2027
For writers ready to tell their life story—whether through memoir, one-woman shows, or personal writing.
Spend a generative, creative week in Santa Fe crafting the meaningful, crucial story beats of your memoir with Jennifer Schelter. This workshop welcomes writers at all levels who want to learn how to write memoir AND tell a compelling, concise story as a reliable narrator.
Whether you’re working on a book-length memoir, developing a one-woman show, writing personal essays, or simply want to capture your life stories on the page, this workshop will give you the craft skills, structure, and confidence to grow your writing.
In this immersive writing workshop with Jennifer, you’ll discover how ordinary objects, memories, images, and everyday moments can become the starting point for powerful memoir. Through micro-memoir, you’ll learn to write vivid, emotionally resonant pieces using sensory detail, specificity, compression, and storytelling techniques.
Questions? Email, [email protected]
You’ll explore story structure, narrative tension, revision, and the recurring themes that can connect individual pieces into a larger body of work – or even the beginnings of a memoir. With daily writing, craft talks, revision, sharing, and supportive feedback, you’ll leave with new stories, new confidence, and a fresh way of seeing the extraordinary in the everyday.
Discover the Power of Micro-Memoir
Learn to write micro-memoir—a short-form genre that captures a complete story in a flash: a single scene, a litany, a pivotal moment. Micro-memoir offers you a one-page frame in which to create tension, truth, and a whole world. These compact pieces become the building blocks for longer works—perfect for stringing together into a full-length memoir or weaving into a one-woman show.
Two Workshops in One
Guided by Jennifer Schelter, you’ll appreciate both the intimate craft of micro-memoir AND the architecture of compelling storytelling. This special pairing gives you double the value: learn to write closely observed moments while also discovering how to structure those moments into a larger narrative that captivates a reader or an audience—whether on the page, reading, or performing for an audience.
To register, MADELINE ISLAND SCHOOL OF ARTS.
Description
What You’ll Gain
By the end of this workshop, you will:
- Write a collection of original micro-memoirs inspired by the ordinary moments, objects, and memories of your life.
- Learn how to find stories everywhere—not by searching for dramatic events, but by noticing what quietly calls for your attention.
- Discover how everyday objects—a worn sponge, a favorite coffee mug, a pair of gardening gloves, a box of hair dye—can become portals into rich, emotionally resonant memoir.
- Transform fleeting memories into vivid, cinematic scenes using sensory detail, emotional honesty, and specificity.
- Understand the architecture of compelling memoir through story structure, narrative tension, and fifteen story beats.
- Develop confidence writing with brevity, allowing small moments to carry profound emotional weight.
- Learn revision techniques that deepen clarity, compression, and resonance by boosting the white hot center of the story.
- Identify the recurring themes, images, and questions that connect individual micro-memoirs into a larger body of work—or the beginnings of a full memoir.
- Read your work aloud with greater confidence and presence.
- Receive thoughtful, encouraging feedback in a supportive community of fellow writers.
- Leave with a practical process for generating stories whenever and wherever life offers them
Your Guide
Jennifer Schelter teaches workshops and retreats in memoir writing, meditation, and yoga. Her approach sparks authentic creative expression, cinematic, and kinesthetic storytelling.
Instructor Jennifer Schelter teaches workshops and retreats in memoir writing, meditation, yoga, poetry, and intentional journaling to nurture joy and authenticity.Your Writing Time
Each morning, we’ll explore a craft topic and a specific story beat. We’ll read work from acclaimed micro-memoirists and memoirists published in The Sun, Brevity Magazine, and beyond, immersing ourselves in personal narrative.
Writing prompts offered each morning will lead you to write, write, write—and enjoy afternoons with ample opportunity to read your work aloud and receive nurturing one-on-one feedback in a supportive community.
Explore
- How to show yourself on the page (or stage) as a compelling protagonist
- Micro-memoir craft and storytelling tools
- A no-fail storytelling template
- How to capture the tension and high stakes of your story
- Humor
Join Us
The intention of this workshop is to thrive as writers, generate new material, and practice your craft skills in a generous, friendly community.
Come write. Your story matters. We’re waiting to hear it.
Questions? Email, [email protected]
