Writing Women's History: Starting with Your Mother

In 2004 Marilyn Norry sent a challenge to women actors in Vancouver Canada: write the facts of your mother's life, just the facts, from beginning to end.

It was the start of My Mother's Story, now a worldwide campaign to empower both women and men to see their mothers as women in their times -- accomplishing goals, witnessing history, surviving as well as they could. These are the extraordinary stories of ordinary women that tell the truth of how women of the 20th century truly lived. Writing about your mother in this way contributes to a collective history where women are seen as well as heard.

This guide takes you through the process of writing the story of your mother's life, answering questions and posing more. It's a workbook, a writing exercise, a history lesson, a meditation journal, a project, a challenge, a manifesto, a call to action, an archive. It's the start of many meaningful conversations; an empathy builder, a community healer, a voice builder, a shame shatterer.

By reflecting on family history and answering questions, your writing will shed light on the past but also expose and perhaps dissolve some of the assumptions you hold about your mother, your writing, and what you believe is your place in the world. It will prepare you for conversations on what roles and rules will benefit the human race in the future.

Finished mother stories are posted in our Archive (www.mymothersstory.org) where they are saved for present reading and future generations. If you wish you can post your mother's story there as well.

Author: Marilyn Norry
Publisher: Mothership Stories Society
Published: 10/30/2018
Pages: 180
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 8.50h x 8.50w x 0.38d
ISBN: 9780987984425

About the Author
Norry, Marilyn: - Marilyn Norry is an award winning actor who has honed her craft on stage and screen for over 30 years. From this perspective Marilyn is able to see the extraordinary story potential in the lives of ordinary women as well as see how these stories could be told. Those insights started My Mother's Story and since 2004 Marilyn has used the stories gained in this project to stage readings, edit and publish books and lead workshops. www.mymothersstory.org to find out more. She lives in Vancouver and continues to find ways to gather and tell women's history... one mother at a time.