I agreed to teach a “how to write your memoirs” class for a group of area seniors. When I said yes to the plan, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into; I’d never taught a memoir-writing class before.

But the four weeks of class flew by and this morning I bid farewell to my dedicated group of writers.

I pulled readings from Michael Ondaaatje’s memoir called Running in the Family, in which he travels to Sri Lanka to research his family roots. Yet I also brought in a variety of other writing prompts.

I even found a way to work the six-word memoir idea into class, plus, I agreed to instruct the class a second time later this spring.