Local author Mary O’Dell will lead a six-week memoir writing workshop starting Thursday, March 4. “Writing Your Life” will consist of six weekly two-and-a-half-hour sessions from 5:30–8:00 P.M. at the Cornerstone Café in Buckner (off I-71 North at Exit 17, Hwy. 146).  “The group will be small and tailored to individual needs,” O’Dell says of the laid-back, nonthreatening workshop. “It’ll be very casual.” Even though meals are not included in the $25 weekly fee, participants will be able to order off-menu to keep those creative energies up. O’Dell explains the difference between memoir and autobiography, saying that an autobiography is “pretty much a factual story of someone’s life from the beginning. Memoir does not have to tell the first thing that happened, second thing that happened…You can have it be about one aspect of your life. You write it from any angle you want to write it from”—your life as a writer, or as a parent, or about that summer you “accidentally” sneaked into eastern Tibet. O’Dell, whose prose and poetry have appeared in collections, anthologies and periodicals, is the founder and president of the nonprofit group Green River Writers, Inc. The organization holds an annual retreat each summer for writers of all genres, from fiction to poetry to nonfiction, and O’Dell hosts monthly fiction and poetry meetings each month in the Louisville/Middletown area. Both the group and the memoir workshop are open to all writers. “Anybody of any level is welcome,” she says. “I’m basically a teacher—an enabler, but in a good way.” To register for Writing Your Life or for more information about Green River Writers, call Mary O’Dell at 552-9578 or e-mail her at  Mary.Odell@insightbb.com. Again, space is extremely limited, and the charge is $25 per two-and-a-half-hour session. You may also enjoy: Heine Bros.’ mother-daughter art show crosses genres and eras.

Contact the author at leecopywriting@gmail.com or www.leecopywriting.com. Disclosure: Mary O'Dell is a friend of the author. Photo: Flickr/dbdbrobot