Mythmaking and the Timeless Art of Memoir: A Writing Workshop for Women

Maureen Murdock

April 25-27, 2024
Hotel Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Time passes.
Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember.
—Joan Didion, Blue Nights

The story we tell ourselves and others gives us a sense of identity. It helps us organize our life in such a way that it gives us meaning and direction. Although not every memoir reflects a mythic theme, most memoir writers unconsciously reveal mythic themes in their desire to find meaning in their lives. They wonder: Who am I? Who are my people? What is my journey? What is my purpose? Where is home? Myth fuels the psychic desire of humans to understand their origins and therefore their destinies. Memoir brings forward an event of the past and re-enacts it by giving it form in writing.

The essence of a great memoir is the voice of the writer and how she brings the reader into a scene with sensory details. Memoir has to deliver vivid characters, evocative settings and pitch-perfect dialogue for the reader to remain interested. How you select and order the events in your life adds to the meaning  you make of these events and helps you find a cohesive theme. Both myth and memoir arise from a human need for connection and that is why memoirs are so popular in culture today.

In an atmosphere of friendship, support, and safety in the beautiful Hotel Santa Fe, you will have time and the opportunity to write, read excerpts from contemporary memoirs that reflect mythic themes, and listen to the power of your own words and the words of your sisters.

Maureen Murdock has a Ph. D. in Mythological Studies with an emphasis on Depth Psychology and served as Chair of the M.A. Counseling Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She is the author of her new book Mythmaking: Self-Discovery and the Timeless Art of Memoir and the author of the best-selling book, The Heroine’s Journey, which explores the rich territory of the feminine psyche and has been translated into twenty languages. Maureen is also author of Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Fathers’ Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Spinning Inward: Using Guided Imagery with Children; and The Heroine’s Journey Workbook. She is the editor of an anthology entitled Monday Morning Memoirs: Women in the Second Half of Life and teaches memoir for the International Women’s Writing Guild and in Pacifica Graduate Institute’s program, Writing Down the Soul. She has written pieces for the Huffington Post on criminal justice and volunteers for the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) with inmates at Lompoc Federal Prison. For more information, visit www.maureenmurdock.com

THE PROGRAM

The workshop will be held at Hotel Santa Fe in downtown Santa Fe. Owned by the Picuris Pueblo, the hotel will provide a warm and intimate environment for our gathering.

Please plan to arrive on Thursday by 4:00 pm. Workshop check in is scheduled from 3:00-5:00 pm with our Welcome Dinner served 5:00-6:45 pm followed by the Opening Session. The workshop will end on Saturday at 9:00 pm.