Writing Archives | JENNIFER SCHELTER https://jenniferschelter.com/product-category/writing/ There’s a story only you can tell. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 22:18:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 https://jenniferschelter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-favicon-32x32.jpg Writing Archives | JENNIFER SCHELTER https://jenniferschelter.com/product-category/writing/ 32 32 Finding the Story in Ordinary Objects: Memoir, Micro-Memoir & Storytelling Skills, Sante Fe, New Mexico, May 10-14, 2027 https://jenniferschelter.com/product/findingthestorymemoirsantefe/ Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:00:49 +0000 https://jenniferschelter.com/?post_type=product&p=1036 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, Jennifer@jenniferschelter.com

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.

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]]> What You’ll Gain
Jennifer Schelter - teaching writers
Jennifer Schelter engaging with students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Jennifer Schelter engaging with students in her writing classThe 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, jennifer@jenniferschelter.com

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]]> Developing A Writing Practice: Noting Wondrous Small Things https://jenniferschelter.com/product/https-www-mainemedia-edu-workshops-item-developing-a-writing-practice-noting-wondrous-small-things-online/ Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:53:05 +0000 https://jenniferschelter.com/?post_type=product&p=1019 Nov. 7 –  8th, Saturday & Sunday, 10:30 am-12:30 pm ET

What if you began each day by noticing the small, wondrous things right in front of you? A writing practice can become a creative anchor, a spiritual ritual, a Zen-like meditation, or simply a structure that makes you feel more grounded and productive.

This workshop draws inspiration from the Japanese Pillow Book tradition—intimate, observational notes that transform the ordinary into art. You’ll experiment with your own “brushstroke,” the way you naturally see and capture the world, and explore how to build a practice that feels generative, not demanding.

A writing practice offers momentum, mindfulness, fresh material, and unexpected gifts: a calmer mind, deeper connection, and trust in your own noticing.This workshop welcomes anyone seeking consistency, a fresh beginning, or the joy of writing as meditation.

Bring a notebook, a gentle willingness to begin, and curiosity about what attention to your practice might reveal.  

Levels: All
Workshop Fee: $275
Workshop Duration: 4 hours over 2 sessions (Saturdays & Sundays, 10:30 am-12:30 pm ET) - on Zoom. 
Class Size: 12

Registration: Maine Media (click here) 

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]]> Students wishing to build a meditative routine transforming ordinary moments into creative material are in the right place.

Testimonials:

“Jennifer’s approach to writing offers is a brilliant recipe of educating, mentoring, guiding, and collaboration. She meets each writer where they are with intentional guidance to help them improve and expand their craft. I have grown from listening to others’ work and feedback as much as I have from working on my own projects and pieces. Jennifer creates an environment to make this possible. I leave each class with so much more than expected to consider, practice, and experiment with.” – KB
“Jennifer provides a space of freedom and constructive support. The other writers are generous with their stories and feedback. Jennifer has a way of drawing out creativity from writers who didn’t believe they had it. She makes me a better writer every week.” – GG

“It’s a remarkable experience to be in Jennifer Schelter’s Memoir class. She guides the class in craft and creates a nurturing, collaborative environment for even the most reticent writer. Each person’s unique writing voice is encouraged. New members quickly feel the support and reinforcement from the group. This creates a safe petri dish to explore one’s most vulnerable and original work, unafraid of negative criticism. When freed from judgment, one can hear excellent possibilities for growing the writing for the reader’s greater engagement or understanding. The suggestions and observations are offered not as judgments but as positive options to enrich the story, the memory, or to clarify the thought. Class is positive and enlightening. We begin by practicing writing about what we see, hear, feel,  and smell. I found this extraordinarily revealing. The process opened up all kinds of writing and got me out of my head and into real, precise sensory observation. Then we have a prompt. It might be on a theme, or sentence, or some area of craft, and off we go, writing. Later, Jennifer asks who wants to read. I have been incredibly inspired by my fellow members and encouraged to continue my crafting and storytelling skills. I’m learning to find my own writing process! I am so grateful to Jennifer for opening up the possibility of my writing and helping me hone my creative process. Her approach is helping me reach my best level as a writer.” – PR

 

 

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]]> Autumn 8-Week Series: Ground Your Memoir Writing In Craft, Creative Process & Storytelling Skills https://jenniferschelter.com/product/memoir-writing-storytelling-fall-8-week-series/ Mon, 17 Nov 2025 23:28:19 +0000 https://jenniferschelter.com/?post_type=product&p=604 Thursday, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19, 7-9 PM EST

This memoir writing workshop and community will help capture, organize, and distill the shimmering details of your prose and story while enhancing your craft, creative process, and confidence as a writer.

"The course is an inspiring, safe environment for exploring your writing, and receiving constructive feedback, and a map for better storytelling." - CB

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]]> Do you want to explore writing a personal story, memoir, or micro-memoir?

Do you need a nurturing environment to get into the flow of your creative process?

This creative, memoir writing workshop and community will help you write, organize, and distill the details of your story while enhancing your craft toolbox and confidence as a writer.

The biggest challenge with writing is developing your creative process. Being in this class will help you navigate and demystify the confusion.

How do we craft a story? How do we begin? When do we know it’s “the end”?

How do we structure a story for the greatest impact on the reader?

If you want to live up to something deep inside that says “Write!” you must.

You will gain:

  • writing & storytelling tools
  • ways to access themes that matter most to you
  • editorial, and creative development support
  • practices to build your creative process
  • 3 or 4 new pieces you love

We will study examples of personal essays, micro-memoirs, memoirs, and the essentials of storytelling.

What participants appreciate most:

  • 1:1 writing coaching & feedback
  • constructive editorial feedback in class on 2-3 pages of work
  • the warmth and encouragement of the community
  • readings
  • playback recordings
  • weekly Q&A
  • option for a 50-minute one-on-one at a 10% discount*
  • option for additional editorial and creative development

Session Dates

Two-hour sessions are held via Zoom on either Thursday evenings, live on Zoom. Recordings available.

  • Thursday, Oct. 1, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Oct. 8, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Oct. 15, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Oct. 22, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Oct. 29, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Nov. 5, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Nov. 12, 7-9 PM EST
  • Thursday, Nov. 19, 7-9 PM EST

Rate:

$550. PayPal, credit card (includes a 3% cc fee), or Venmo
$545. Personal check.
Payment plan available.

Testimonials:

“Jennifer’s approach to writing offers is a brilliant recipe of educating, mentoring, guiding, and collaboration. She meets each writer where they are with intentional guidance to help them improve and expand their craft. I have grown as much from listening to others’ work and feedback as I have from working on my own projects and pieces. Jennifer creates the environment to make this possible. I leave each class with so much more to consider, practice, and experiment with than expected.” – KB
“Jennifer provides a space of freedom and constructive support. The other writers are generous with their stories and feedback. Jennifer has a way of drawing out creativity from writers who didn’t believe they had it. She makes me a better writer every week.” – GG

“It’s a remarkable experience to be in Jennifer Schelter’s Memoir class. She guides the class in craft and creates a nurturing, collaborative environment for even the most reticent writer. Each person’s unique writing voice is encouraged. New members quickly feel the support and reinforcement from the group. This creates a safe petri dish to explore one’s most vulnerable and original work, unafraid of negative criticism. When freed from judgment, one can hear excellent possibilities for growing the writing for the reader’s greater engagement or understanding. The suggestions and observations are offered not as judgments but as positive options to enrich the story, the memory, or to clarify the thought. Class is positive and enlightening. We begin by practicing writing about what we see, hear, feel,  and smell. I found this extraordinarily revealing. The process opened up all kinds of writing and got me out of my head and into real, precise sensory observation. Then we have a prompt. It might be on a theme, or sentence, or some area of craft, and off we go, writing. Later, Jennifer asks who wants to read. I have been incredibly inspired by my fellow members and encouraged to continue my crafting and storytelling skills. I’m learning to find my own writing process! I am so grateful to Jennifer for opening up the possibility of my writing and helping me hone my creative process. Her approach is helping me reach my best level as a writer.” – PR

Students currently enrolled in the memoir course receive 10% off:

  • 50-minute, one-on-one writing coaching sessions (during the course)
  • creative development & editorial readings (1-12 pages)
  • story structure work
  • single page readings

Policy: No refunds after attending two classes. If, after one class, a participant drops the course, they will receive full credit (minus $100 service fee).

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]]> Creative Space – Free to join https://jenniferschelter.com/product/creative-space/ Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:01:58 +0000 https://jennifer.paulagwebdesign.com/?post_type=product&p=303 A weekly virtual writing room to write, meet other friendly, dedicated writers and grow your craft or process.

Register here for your zoom link. 

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]]> FREE! A weekly virtual writing room to work alongside other friendly, dedicated writers and enhance one’s process.

Tuesdays, October 6, 13, 20, 27, November 3, 10, 17, 24, 12:30-1:30 PM EST, on Zoom

We will:

  • Start by stating intentions for the time
  • Enjoy 55 minutes in your creative process
  • End with gratitude for your process

Receive:

  • A group work space
  • Time to appreciate your creative process
  • A creative, friendly community

When we have skin in the game, we commit, show up, and create.

This offering is FREE to students currently enrolled and studying memoir, yoga, or meditation and those who are new to the community.

Register here and be sent a Zoom link.

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