The Momoir Project

Last night, I sat at a fancy table in a fancy ballroom in a fancy downtown Vancouver hotel surrounded by Momoir students. One of them – the fabulous, fantastic Liesl Jurock – had nominated me for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award for my work with The Momoir Project. I didn’t win, but as everyone told me – it was an honour just to be nominated. And it was. Here’s why: I know how much work it was for Liesl and for some of my other former Momoir students who helped her. (This particular group of former students, by the way, continue to meet, write, publish and motivate and support each other. They call themselves The Write Club and they’re amazing. More on that later.)

Anyway, I know how much work the nomination was because I saw the letters and gave Liesl some of the information she needed to fill out the lengthy and intensive application. I am honoured that they thought of nominating me at all, that they went to the Herculean effort of filling out forms and asking for letters of reference in the midst of their crazy, busy lives as working moms. Thank you, Liesl!

The funny thing is I should have nominated Liesl – who came to my Writing for Moms class one rainy, fall day a couple years ago wanting desperately to achieve her dream of becoming a writer. In that cozy cafe, lit by chandeliers, she met the women that continue, to this day, to be her support and inspiration in her writing career. She has played a significant part in creating and maintaining that special community. And in two short years, she has been published in not one, but two books. She’s published dozens of articles in online publications and she regularly meets with the Write Club to continue her work as a writer. She just hosted her first book launch this spring. And together with The Write Club, recently held a very innovative and cool joint reading with writers from the city’s Downtown Eastside (poorest postal code in Canada meets middle-class moms – you get the picture). As she herself has written on this blog, she has become a “real” writer.

What struck me last night, watching Liesl and the other Momoir students talk and laugh around the awards table (they were all from different classes and few had met in person) was how all these women now embody my dream – of a supportive and caring community of women writers who understand that the seemingly mundane details of our day to day lives matter. That those are the things that can make compelling and provocative stories. It’s a secret Alice Munro knows. Elizabeth Gilbert knows it. Now, these women know it too. Because buried under those seemingly mundane details are stories of struggle and transformation – with our identities, our ambition, our marriages, our spirituality. It is the stuff of life and good storytelling and it’s what can take you on a remarkable and powerful journey of self-discovery. They all now know that the act of writing a memoir forces you to ask yourselves questions you didn’t know existed and it helps you see your life in new ways.

That these women around my table had all been on that journey was awesome to me. That they had a special connection to each other without ever having met was even more awesome. They now implicitly understand and appreciate the power of that journey and how it binds us together. The Momoir community is a special place – whether you’re a reader of this blog, or a former student, or you’ve bought the workbook or the anthology.

Thanks to all of you for being part of it. With a special shout out to Liesl and Kelly and Anne Marie and Maia!

WRITE YOUR BIRTH STORY:

Join us every month for a special, one-day workshop on writing your birth story. This workshop will help you get your birth story down in a way that you want to remember it. Join a group of other mothers, share your stories and record your own birth experience. Prior to the workshop, you will be sent some inspiring reading – essays written by great writers on the topic of birth. These essays will inspire you and will form part of the discussion during the workshop. Workshops are available both online and in person in various cities. See below for the Schedule.

Next Workshop dates:

IN VANCOUVER:

Sunday, October 23rd from 1 to 4 pm

Location TBA

Payment by cheque only. Fee $60. Payable upon registration.

ONLINE:

October 20, November 17

To register, please email cori@themomoirproject.com and indicate which workshop you are hoping to attend.

Once you receive confirmation that there is space, please register and pay using the link below.

Birth Writing Workshop

Regular Price $130.00 Discounted Price $95.00

Cori Howard, Founder and Instructor Email Cori         The Momoir Project was started by Cori Howard, an award-winning journalist who has worked in newspapers, magazines, television and radio, filing stories from across the world. Her writing (much of it personal essays on motherhood) has appeared in publications including The Globe and Mail, Canadian Geographic, Maclean's, Chatelaine, Reader's Digest, Best Health and Today's Parent. She is the editor of the bestselling anthology, Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth about Motherhood and started The Momoir Project to offer mothers a chance to discover their voice and the confidence necessary to believe that the seemingly mundane details of our day-to-day lives matter – and make compelling stories. Her classes not only give women confidence and community, but pave the way for a journey of self-discovery unlike any other. To read what some of her students have to say about the classes, please check out the Feature Stories category.

OTHER INSTRUCTORS: 

Jessica Stockton Clancy was born and raised in New York City. For ten years, she worked as a Los Angeles-based freelance producer on national commercials, music videos and an independent feature film. After relocating to Washington, D.C., she began working as a freelance writer and has been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, LA Parent and Washington Parent. Her profiles on inspiring mothers have been recognized by Parenting Publications of America with a gold award in 2009 and silver in 2010. Jessica is the mother of two energetic girls and has been teaching personal essay writing through The Momoir Project for three years. She teaches workshops and classes in D.C.

ONLINE CLASS INFORMATION:

Learn the art of the Momoir in this exciting online class.  The class is aimed at moms of all ages and stages who are interested in learning how to translate their personal experiences and memories of motherhood into words. Whether you're an experienced writer or a beginner, this class will help guide you, inspire you and get you writing. Join a growing community of mom-writers around the world. Record your memories of motherhood – before you forget. Share your stories. Learn to write – for yourself, your children, your blog or to get published.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

- Laughter. Tears. Self-Discovery. Memoir writing is often a cathartic and therapeutic process. It's always a journey. There is something about the act of writing down the story of your life that will force you to ask questions of yourself you might not have considered before. The writing you do in this class will often surprise you – in good ways.

- Reading: you will be expected to read an average of two personal essays on motherhood for each session. These essays are included in the reading package that comes with registration – a package of amazing and inspiring stories. Time commitment: about an hour every two weeks.

- Writing: you will be expected to write a short story for each of the six sessions. As well, you will be asked to work on a longer essay throughout the session. Often, students not only finish this longer essay but send it out for publication and have it accepted. Please see the list of Momoir students who have had their stories published here. Time commitment: about two hours every two weeks.

HOW IT WORKS:

Class time is held in an online forum where students get a chance to discuss their writing and critique other personal essays on motherhood with moms from around the world. The forum is where you read a lesson and where you can comment and respond to the instructor's questions and to the other student's. The forum is held, using blog software that is very easy, private and secure, once every two weeks over a 5 to 12-hour period, depending on the class and the geography of who's in it.

You will not be expected to sit at your computer the whole time. Rather, you will be able to check in and out during the day. You will post all your writing assignments online, allowing the instructor and the other students to read and comment on your work. Over the three month session, you will learn the essential elements of writing a momoir, develop your own personal essay, as well as six shorter pieces. You will learn how to start a blog, improve your blog and how to publish in publications – both in print and online, and how to pitch your stories and ideas to editors and publishers. Reading and writing assignments have been designed with the busy mom in mind. The class is very manageable, no matter how heavy your mother-load.

Next session starts Thursday, January 12, 2012

Runs every other week for six sessions.

Online discussion forum begins at 10:00 am Pacific, and goes until late.

Cost: $395 US or $430 CDN (including all taxes and materials)

Payment Deadline: December 1, 2011

Instructor: Cori Howard

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND PAY

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The Momoir Workbook is an e-book that takes you through the basics of the Momoir Writing Classes. With a personal introduction by Cori Howard, the book includes tips on how to get started writing your memoirs about motherhood and instruction in the basics of good memoir writing.

It's easy, fun and practical. Designed for women who have never written before, as well as for professional writers, the workbook will help you build stories and confidence. Each chapter includes a brief lesson and writing exercise, and by the end of the workbook, you will have written dozens of short stories, as well as one long personal essay. The workbook walks you through the entire process of writing a personal essay, from conceiving an idea to creating an outline to writing, in short and manageable bits.

Read an excerpt from the Momoir Workbook!

The Momoir Workbook ($24.95 CDN/US) can be printed out and you can go through the chapters at your own speed, crafting stories that you will be grateful to have recorded. Or you can just read the book online and do the writing in your own notebook or on your personal computer.

To purchase your copy of The Momoir Workbook, please click on Buy Now button below to pay by credit card through PayPal. Once you've paid, we will email you the workbook within 24 hours.

Refund and Return Policy

We are not able at this point to provide refunds on e-workbooks. But we know you will enjoy your book!

NEW!
YOU CAN NOW BUY A HARD COPY OF THE WORKBOOK ON LULU.COM

"I just wanted to say how thoroughly I am enjoying the Momoir Writing classes. After an absence of about 15 years, returning to writing is like falling in love again. So thank you for that. I missed the muse."          

 -Erin MacNair, Vancouver

"I like the anonymous quality of the online classes. I find this is the most fascinating part for me so far. In this blog, I am sharing with the group emotions and perspectives that I would not share with my own family. And, I find the process quite liberating."     -Anonymous

"I have always wanted to write about my experiences as a mom, especially with my challenging daughter, and I knew I couldn't pass up this opportunity. But after the first class, I wondered if I had made a mistake and began second guessing my qualifications to write. I felt like the others in the class were more deserving to be there than me, as they seemed to be faster and better at producing words on paper than me. But I knew I couldn't give up. It wasn't like me to start something and quit. I learned so much about memoir writing from The Momoir Project and I'm thrilled to have produced a story that I thought might not ever get written. I'm very pleased that I have produced a draft of my story that for so long was trapped inside of me."     -Christine Biggs, Toronto

"It has been really inspiring to get to know so many women with such interesting stories. To be honest, I almost dropped out, thinking I didn’t have a story worth telling, but with the teacher's great instruction and help I was able to find my story and my voice, and I'm pretty happy with the final result. It was a very positive experience for me and just a lot of fun. And being on maternity leave, it really got my brain working again."      -Nancy Vye, Toronto

"The Momoir Project offers a series of writing classes for moms interested in taking the time to channel their personal experience with motherhood into words. That's what it says on the website but it's so much more. For about six weeks now, I've been meeting a group of incredible women online every other week to discuss our stories. I have been guided by their feedback and encouragement. Their stories are brave, honest and magical. I am in awe of their writing and the stories they have to tell. The instructor, Cori Howard, has the unique ability to offer guidance and criticism without judgment or superiority. It has empowered me to be honest in my writing and I no longer get the shakes when my own writing comes up for discussion.  Cori, along with this most incredible group of women, have unknowingly provided me the support and confidence to put pen to paper in way that I've always wanted to but haven't.  I've never before been secure enough in my own voice. “        -Kathy Moores, Owen Sound, Ontario

Many Momoir students have had the stories they've worked on in class published in both large and small, local and national newspapers and magazines. Some have posted their stories in the Feature Stories section on the home page of this website. Here's a sampling of some of my Momoir students' accomplishments:

Laurie Davidson, Christie Baker and Liesl Jurock published in Hybrid Mom

Christie Baker, Susan Urie, Sam Agar and Christie Roome published in Island Parent

Erin MacNair, published in The Globe and Mail, Hybrid Mom, Sweetmama and Blush

Karen Bannister, published in HipMama

Bonnie Goldberg, published in The Globe and Mail

Luanne Moriarty, published in Today's Parent

Nancy Vye, published in The Globe and Mail

Eileen Robertson, published in The Globe and Mail

Lorrie Miller, published in The Globe and Mail, and Unkle.ca, Momsteam.com

Most mothers don't have time for long conversations. They may want them, crave them, begin them again and again, but they are constantly interrupted by kids, partners, work and the day-to-day of busy lives. Between Interruptions is a remarkable collection of original essays by Canadian writers that explores what is unspoken, cut off or lost in those interrupted conversations. Between Interruptions asks what becomes of us when our children's lives interrupt our own. What prayers, what cries, what taboo thoughts are suddenly left unspoken? Marina Jimenez struggles with her decision to return to her job as a journalist—in a war zone. Carrie-Anne Moss lets us into her home during her self-imposed, forty-day seclusion after the birth of her first son. Chantal Kreviazuk learns to surrender to the limitations of motherhood. Joanna Streetly struggles to find a balance between protecting and letting go. Elizabeth Renzetti and Karrina Onstad search for friends in mommyland. And Estee Klar-Wolfond finds perfection in autism. Provocative, funny and honest, Between Interruptions highlights the differences and similarities between mothers today and generations past. It is, without a doubt, a conversation worth having.

To buy a copy of Between Interruptions: Thirty Women Tell the Truth About Motherhood, click on the Paypal link below and I will ship a copy directly to you. Or click here to buy a copy on your E-Book reader for only $3.99. 

What people have said about Between Interruptions:

"Written by mothers for mothers, this book is full of essays that will have readers laughing out loud, crying in sympathy, and nodding their heads in recognition – but only if they are mothers themselves. Those outside of the club just won't understand."

-Quill and Quire

Read Cori's Introduction in Between Interruptions

Good Reads – Blogs and Magazines
Catherine Newman
Her Bad Mother
Mama Renew
Babble
Brain, Child
The Sun

Blogs Started and Written by Momoir Students:
Danielle
Lorrie
Lorrie’s Post-Momoir Writing Group Blog
Michelle
Taryn