Marsha McGregor

Marsha McGregor
Hudson, OH, USA
Creative Non-Fiction, Memoir, Non-Fiction
English
College/University, Arts/Cultural Organizations, Community Center, Library, Senior Center

Marsha McGregor has led creative writing workshops with a focus on memoir and personal essay for over a decade. Much of her experience centers around teaching older adults the art of capturing and preserving their personal life stories on paper. She has led both stand-alone workshops and workshops up to nine weeks in length that culminate in public readings of participants' work. Her teaching venues include libraries, senior centers, cultural and educational institutions and writing conferences around the country, as well as privately commissioned small group workshops. She is widely published in the genres of memoir and personal essay, which allows her to offer students writing techniques that help them start, edit and complete their stories. McGregor's teaching emphasizes the value of each participant's stories and creating an environment that encourages freedom, deep thinking and a safe place for sharing.

In every workshop I have facilitated for older adults, I have been moved and inspired by the passion, free spirit and work ethic they bring to their memoirs. They have long passed the age of insecurity that plagues most writers, so they enter the room with open minds and hearts, eager to learn. Having survived the Depression, wars, often searing losses, divorces, deaths, estrangement and the everyday wear and tear of long lives, they fear little and carry the perspective that comes only with time. Knowing they have more years behind them than in front of them, they write with a sense of honesty and urgency, a true desire to get the record straight and share previously untold stories with loved ones they will someday leave behind.