• New

    Workshops Now Scheduled for September! Save the Dates

    June 18, 2024 /

    I have a full slate of workshops schedules for September: Fiction Writing Essentials, Self-Publishing with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), and extended Guided Autobiography Workshops. You don’t need to register now, but save the dates and stay tuned. – Mark

    Guided Autobiography 6 Week Online Workshop
    Starts Wednesday, September 4, 10:00 am eastern
    Register here

    Read More
  • New

    At the Flemington Summer Book Fest

    May 29, 2024 /

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    This was my second year at the Flemington Summer Book Festival. Last year was great, and I sold a lot of books. This year, not so much. Maybe it was the heat and humidity. There were a lot fewer authors, and the foot traffic was tragic. But … I’m glad I went.

    Read More
  • New

    Another Workshop Testimonial: Guided Autobiography 2-Hour Introductory

    May 28, 2024 /

    “Mark gave us a simple exercise, to pick a room and diagram it using the house we grew up in. Put in the furniture, windows, all the room’s features, and take notice of any feelings, emotions, thoughts that occurred as we did the exercise. I was astonished at the power of my memories and feelings as I thought about the knotty pine “den” where my family watched TV, sometimes ate, spent most of the nighttime hours before going to bed. I relived the distance I always felt between my father and me, the anger of my father toward my mother, my disgust with my sad depressed grandmother, who I felt almost didn’t exist for me. I became that teenage boy in Canton, Mississippi, trying to figure out how I could be so different, how I could know I was “queer”, and wondering if I would even be able to act on those feelings.” – Jim G.

    Read More
  • Dreamshaping

    Dreamshaping: The ‘What If?’ List

    May 13, 2024 /

    All things are of the substance of dreams …

    By Mark McNease

    I’ve used a ‘What If?’ list in my fiction writing, especially when I feel stuck in the journey of a story. Where should it go? Where do I want it to go? How can I imagine the next turn in the road for these characters?

    I don’t like to admit that I sometimes find myself unable to tell which direction a story should take, and that includes the story of my life. So when I recently found myself feeling indecisive, even to the point of thinking I couldn’t do much of anything, I wrote a ‘What If?’ list for myself.

    WHAT IF I set aside the novel writing for 90 days or so?

    WHAT IF I truly opened up that creative space and let something else come into it?

    Read More
  • Health Beat,  LGBTSR

    Health Beat: Finding Ways to Deal with Chronic Pain

    May 11, 2024 /

     

    Health Beat is a feature at LGBTSr promoting health and well-being.

    By Mark McNease

    There’s something psychologically debilitating about walking with a cane, or wearing sandals that can accommodate an ankle brace. Two sizes too large? I had no other choice if I wanted more than one pair of shoes I could wear, which has been the case for a week.

    When the mighty fall

    Chronic pain affects millions of people, and we can find ourselves dealing with it at a moment’s notice. For me, it was a very sudden fall in the yard just over a week ago. I was dragging a hose across the lawn, walking sideways, and suddenly …. SNAP, my ankle bent sideways and every overweight pound of me went falling to the ground. I’ve had this happen before, but never so seriously. I also landed on my chest, and a week later I’m dealing with both the ankle, and, to a lesser degree, rib pain.

    We’re going on a cruise next week. Between that and simply wanting to function—I don’t know how anyone stands being bed or couch ridden for more than a day—I went to an orthopedist. Now that I have Medicare there’s no reason not to, but old habits of avoiding doctors die hard.

    Chronic pain is caused by any number of reasons, such as injury, illness, aging, or stress. It can, and does, have a negative impact on your physical, mental, and emotional well-being, as well as your quality of life. There’s something psychologically debilitating about walking with a cane, or wearing sandals that can accommodate an ankle brace. Two sizes too large? I had no other choice if I wanted more than one pair of shoes I could wear, which has been the case for a week.

    Take heart: there are ways to cope with chronic pain and manage its symptoms. Following are some tips and strategies that can help, or at least inspire you to find your own ways of coping.

    Read More
  • New

    Guided Autobiography 2-Hour Introductory Workshop Was a Hit

    May 9, 2024 /

    Thanks to the five participants who came to my first two-hour Guided Autobiography introductory workshop! It was a success. They all found it to be profound in some ways, thought-provoking in others, and well worth their time and attention. And I was delighted to see how effective this kind of journaling and personal exploration is, with me as a facilitator. We have liftoff!

    Read More