FGS Writing Workshop

Writing Tools

Description

FGS Tampa is hosting a 10-series workshop to assist our members with writing their family history. Each 90-minute session will cover a new topic or aspect of writing followed by peer reviews of participants writing. During the workshop you can expect to learn about different writing methods, story themes and arcs, story structure, bringing your ancestors into historical context, citations, much more. This interactive workshop requires participation and work outside of the monthly session.

Some say practice is the best way of learning and this workshop embraces practice. Each month we ask participants to write a short narrative to present. The target is around 450 – 1200 words or about 1-3 pages. You can pick your own topic or use one of our monthly prompts. I ask that you submit your narrative a week prior to the meeting (i.e., the 2d Wednesday of the month) so our workshop members can have a chance read it. Additionally, each of you should read to ready at least one of the other workshop participant’s narratives and be prepared to provide constructive feedback. We will discuss this more during our first meeting.

Furthermore, I am creating a writer’s forum for workshop members to continue sharing ideas and thoughts through out the month. Only registered workshop participants will have access to this forum. Again, more to follow on this feature during our first meeting.

Agenda

Here is an outline of each workshop’s itinerary (all times are Eastern timezone):

7:00 pm – 7:10 pm – Welcoming and Socialization

7:10 pm – 7:30 pm – Introduce a writing concept / topic

7:30 pm – 8:15 pm – Peer Review Articles

8:15 pm – 8:30 pm – Prepare for next month 

Facilitator

Dave Głogowski will facilitate this workshop. Dave began searching for his family origins in the 1990s as a way to understand his Polish heritage and traditions. Upon retiring from a 26 year Air Force career, he moved to the Tampa area. He began his family history research in earnest; joining FGS in 2010. Leveraging his degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, as well as his software development experience, Dave took on stewardship of the FGS website in 2017 and was a Director from 2017 – 2019. As Vice President, Dave seeks to continue to our history of current, relevant, and renowned speakers as well as foster a greater sense of community among our members. More recently, his passions have increasingly turned towards writing both his family history as well as nonfiction. This is first endeavor to lead a writing workshop, so be gentle.