Writers Helping Writers

Writing Hard Stories: Finding Ease as You Put Painful Personal Stories on the Page 

People who want to write memoir often find themselves reluctant to begin, or continue writing, because of the nature of the story they want to tell. Maybe the story is dark, and you want to write without being pulled back into painful memories. Maybe yours is a story of abuse, or grief, or rage, or emotional neglect or abandonment, and the intensity of your feelings about the story scares you. Maybe your story will upset someone in your family if it’s published. Maybe you haven’t begun to write this story, because you don’t know where to start.

Yet the story calls to be written. And you’d like to tell it with honesty and bravery, in your own voice. You want to honor the story without losing part of yourself in the process of writing.  

At this meeting you’ll discover how other writers have handled such stories, and look at ways you can navigate the writing process so you feel more ease,  less pressure, and more safety as you tell your story—hard as it might be—in your own way. 

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Darlene Frank is a writer, editor, and writing coach who has helped authors write and publish books about autism, grief, adoption, sexual violence, disability, food and travel, dance, yoga, and more. She is editor and publisher of Spirited Voices, an online magazine featuring the work of participants in her writing programs. She also teaches a year-long program for people who are writing a book. Darlene’s personal essays are published in 12 anthologies. She is a decades-long member and former Vice President of the San Francisco Peninsula chapter of CWC. In another life she was an award-winning technical and instructional writer and author of two business books. Read more on her website.

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Attend these free events at the Palo Alto Rinconada Library. All presenters are local authors from the California Writers Club, San Francisco Peninsula branch.

Upcoming presenters:

• Events will resume in January 2025

Presentations are the third Thursday of the month.

Darlene Frank