Magical Memoir Moments
100 New Beginnings: Your Chance to Be a Winner
Well folks, here we are. After reading 100 memoirs, writing 400 blog posts, and drafting page after page of memoir, we are entering the last trimester of labor. 100 Days Until Launch. Yea! Thank you, thank you, for sustaining me thus far. The best is yet to be. The goal has always been more than…
"You Can't Have it All": Part Two from Saloma Furlong's Review of Thrill of the Chaste
I grew up in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Farms like the one on the left peppered the hills and valleys of that beautiful place. So did other signs of rural life. Two years ago I stayed with my sister Sue for several days, preparing for a talk called “The Purpose of Memory” at…
I Am Hutterite: A Lovely Memoir from the Canadian Prairie
I probably wouldn’t have found this book if it hadn’t been on sale at the Green Valley Book Fair, a huge book warehouse located close to Harrisonburg, VA. The hardcover price is 19.99, but at the Book Fair it was $5.00. Ach yommer, a bargain! I’m sure the author, who grew up Hutterite, would approve…
Published Memoir Essays and Opinion Pieces
National publications: A Better Way to Say I’m Retired, Forbes, Jan. 10, 2017 Next Avenue: “A Better Way to Say I’m Retired” Jan. 10, 2017 Fifteen book reviews for The Christian Century are located here Op-eds: “A Birthday Letter to Hillary Clinton,” October 24, 2016, The Minneapolis Star “Exhibit doesn’t tell people how to think;…
Speaking Engagements
You may contact Shirley at shirley.showalter(at)gmail.com to request a keynote, book club interview, workshop, retreat, or other speaking assignment. The following engagements provide a sample of Shirley’s topics and interests. Recent favorites: aging and vocation, grandparenting, spiritual legacy, Mennonite memoir, and school board activism. 2024 January 11, 2024, “Living Joyfully,” Sarasota, FL, Sarasota Community Church…
Reposting a Tribute to My Mother-in-Law: A Mini-Memoir
Note to Readers: My first blog was created on the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference site. When the site closed, I lost the web connection for this post written in 2008. I am reposting it so that others can appreciate the woman I considered a second mother–and so that one small piece of her legacy is…
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