Instructor: Jeff Rasley
Date: Saturday, September 27
Time: 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Location: IWC
Cost: $57 Nonmembers, $39 members, $33 student member/teacher member/senior member/military member

Many writers keep a journal or write about their own experiences. Most of this writing is not shared or published (except on Facebook). Many of us can turn our own experiences into a lesson for others—a didactic memoir. Short features for on-line publications, corporate newsletters and newspapers, full-length magazine pieces, and book-length memoirs: all offer opportunities for the didactic memoir writer. Dropping your child off for the first day of school, deciding how to bag your groceries, or climbing a Himalayan mountain are all grist for a didactic memoir. Ordinary and extraordinary experiences may lead to insights about ethics, spirituality, philosophy, psychology, etc., which can be turned into articles or books for the journal writer willing to go beyond the merely descriptive.

Jeff Rasley has published numerous articles and photos in academic and mainstream periodicals, including Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, ABA Journal, Family Law Review, Pacific Magazine, Indy’s Child, The Journal of Communal Societies, The Chrysalis Reader, Faith & Fitness Magazine, Friends Journal and Real Travel Adventures International Magazine. His book on adventures in Nepal and third world philanthropy, Bringing Progress to Paradise, was published by Conari Press, October 1, 2010. Rasley’s first novel, False Prophet?, was published by Midsummer Books, July 2011. Motorcycles and Native Americans is his latest book. It's an antiwar book dedicated to family members serving in the U.S. military. Rasley has given programs about adventure travel and philanthropy to many service clubs, community organizations and churches. He has served on several nonprofit and for-profit corporate boards. He is an avid outdoorsman and recreational athlete. He leads trekking-mountaineering expeditions in Nepal and has solo-kayaked around several Pacific island groups.