Voices of Wisdom

Weekly Free writing classes for seniors 55-plus. All levels of writers are welcome. The purpose is to capture stories of our lives to share with others. We assist in editing the pieces so that they are publishable if participants would like to publish them in an anthology of writing or collection for family, friends, and/or the reading public.  The writing is nonfiction — personal essays, feature articles, autobiographical writing, and memoir. 

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.”

Sessions are held every Friday from 1-3 pm at the Calaveras Senior Center at 956 Mountain Ranch Road, San Andreas, CA 95249. Check for availability of sessions — We meet every Friday in June, with three sessions in July, a break in August for vacation, then resuming in September with sessions meeting through November 2023. We will take a break for holidays, and back again for VOW sessions in January 2024. 

Sponsored by Manzanita Writers Press

  Email the Voices of Wisdom Director, Linda Toren: lintoren@gmail.com

FREE program for seniors.  Email for an invitation link to the live session: lintoren@gmail.com

Thank you to the Calaveras Senior Center for hosting the program! 

Thank you to the Calaveras Community Foundation for a generous grant for purchasing equipment and software in documenting the stories of elders throughout the region, including Miwok tribal elders, with archival footage and finished video presentations and podcasts.

Calaveras County Community Television, a major partner in the grant, is doing the production work with assistance from trained personnel and student interns trained for this program. 

There has also been free technology training on Tech Tuesdays for seniors through the end of May, conducted by trained technicians in smartphone, tablet, apps, Google, Youtube, social media platforms, Canva, photography on the phone, and device settings and use.  Again, all funded through the generous California Humanities grant. 

 

Voices of Wisdom

Free writing classes for seniors 55-plus. All levels welcome. 

  Email: manzanitawp@gmail.com

 

To participate in Voices of Wisdom, please email Linda Toren, Director, at lintoren@gmail.com to be added to the Zoom invitation and our email list!

 Volume 4 anthology chock full of writing and art/photography by participants in the program  is in editing right now. The projected release goal is some time in 2023. 

Contact manzapress.com for information.

Writing exercises and instruction, with hands-on activities, writing time and sharing. Voices of Wisdom is a free writing program for seniors 55+ of all writing levels that is a continuing series of weekly Zoom writing classes in Calaveras County, hosted and sponsored by Manzanita Writer Press,  serving the Mother Lode, with funding for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 publications  generously granted by the Calaveras Community Foundation. 

VOW Classes for 2019 and 2022-2023 have been funded by California Humanities – calhum.org

“Voices of Wisdom” Writing Classes for Seniors 55 + 

No online classes for 2023 – all are live sessions.

 

Voices of Wisdom is a free writing program for seniors that is a continuing series of weekly writing classes open to all levels, and for those with no formal writing background, or experienced writers seeking a writing community.

Contact Manzanita Writers Press at manzanitawp@gmail.com for more information about our writing programs and activities. 

Participants enjoy a 2-hour class each week designed to stimulate memories and to write these stories and moments down in an artistic and professional manner, eligible for publication and further exploration by the writer. Trained writers and teachers lead the sessions and assist writers in drafting and polishing writing.

Classes are free and open to the public, but you must contact the sponsor to sign up as space is limited and classes fill up fast. Go to manzanitawp@gmail.com or lintoren@gmail.com

manzanitawp@gmail.com or call 209-728-6117. 

Writing exercises and tasks, instruction with models of good writing, and creative avenues of expression are important to the process. Collaboration and sharing of individual writing is nurtured and valued at these sessions. Participants enjoy the social aspects of writing and sharing with friends that they make in the classes, and cohesive writing friends and colleagues are formed. Many of the participants have been with the program since its inception five years ago and continue to attend and participate.

Participants enjoy the social aspects of writing and sharing with friends that they make in the classes, and cohesive writing friends and colleagues are formed.

Writing coaches and editors guide the editing of writing toward a culminating anthology of edited and Drop us a line at manzanitawp@gmail.com or give a call. You won’t want to miss it. 

If you know a senior in the Mother Lode region, counties of Calaveras, Amador, and Tuolumne, who would love an opportunity to start writing down his or her stories, then please let them know about this program. Some seniors do not use Facebook and may not hear about this.

Please spread the word and share this post. Thank you so much! 

 

Linda Toren is the Voices of Wisdom director. 

Writing Coaches in 2020-2022 are Linda Toren & Monika Rose. 

We have a great group of returning participants who are seasoned and working on their own writing projects for family, friends, and the community to enjoy reading. New Voices of Wisdom participants are joining every week. Now is your chance to meet new people, exchange great stories and memories of living in our generation, and writing down your stories and impressions.

We have an online writing platform called Manzanita Writers Press NING, where writers in the Voices and Manzanita Night Writers groups post their work to share with members only. 

Manzanita Night Writers manuscript share sessions are conducted via Zoom. Email us if you would like us an invitation to the online community.  manzanitawp@gmail.com

 

Voices of Wisdom is a convivial and friendly group that has formed a community of writers and friends from all walks of life and levels of writing over the last five years, most of them not having written down or published their stories before, and a few practiced writers who love the camaraderie of memoir writing. They have written publishable accounts and essays published in three community volumes of Voices of Wisdom, with supporting grants for publishing all three volumes provided by the Calaveras Community Foundation.

The mission:

Write stories, memoir, essays, poetry, and more that reflect your memories and stories buried in those deep recesses, the nooks and crannies of times past. Reflect on where you live and its place in your sensibilities and history. 

Speaking of time, which is increasing in speed as we get older, it’s Time to bring those memories to the surface, not only for friends and family to enjoy, but for historic documentation. Only you can describe what it has been like to live in your world.

Calaveras stories, childhood and growing up stories, life happens stories, inspiration and events that remind us we are all a part of the human fabric– these are stories evoking a flood of other people’s memories that can be opened with one key, unlocking it all.

 

FREE program. Bring a laptop, notebook, or other writing materials. Contact manzapress.com for calendar information, times and locations.

Sponsors: 

Signal Service – Angels Camp, CA

IN 2019, this program was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the nonprofit National Endowment of Humanities   —  visit calhum.org

Thanks also goes to Signal Service for their ongoing sponsor sustenance of our facility so that these programs for the public can continue.

We’d also like to thank Ironstone Vineyards for use of their facility in October 2020 and for the generous donations of wine for our events the last few years. Thank you, Kautz family!

Just one session sampler of some of the participants. See prior years of participants at manzapress.com

History of the program:

Voices of Wisdom

Voices is a free writing program for seniors that is a continuing series of weekly writing classes at Manzanita Arts Emporium in Calaveras County, sponsored by Manzanita Writer Press, and serving the Mother Lode. Since August, 2017, the series has continued to provide delight and satisfaction for writing seniors.

It’s free and open to the public, but you must contact the sponsor to sign up as classes fill up fast. Go to manzanitawp@gmail.com or call 209-728-6117 to sign up. The Manzanita Writers Press Ning is an online opportunity to share writing and participate in the program with lessons and communications available to a closed group of members by invitation only. These members are Voices of Wisdom writers who have their own private group space to share, or they can choose to share with professional writers in an equally safe space, getting some wonderful encouragement and feedback.  Sign up by emailing Linda Toren and letting her know to send you an evite by email.

At Voices sessions, participants enjoy a 2-hour class each week designed to stimulate memories and to write these stories and moments down in an artistic and professional manner, eligible for publication and further exploration by the writer. Trained writers and teachers lead the sessions and assist writers in drafting and polishing writing.

Writing exercises and tasks, instruction with models of good writing, and creative avenues of expression are important to the process. Collaboration and sharing of individual writing is nurtured and valued at these sessions. Participants enjoy the social aspects of writing and sharing with friends that they make in the classes, and cohesive writing friends and colleagues are formed. Many of the participants have been with the program since its inception and continue to attend and participate in the gatherings.

Writing coaches and editors guide the editing process toward a culminating anthology of edited and polished essays and stories.

Publication of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 anthologies has been made possible by a generous grant from the Calaveras Community Foundation who have supported the seniors in their endeavors since the program’s inception. Manzanita staff are very grateful and appreciative of their help.

 

 

 

 

The 2019 writing class project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.

Participants enjoyed a 2-hour class each week that was designed to stimulate memories and to write them down in an artistic and professional manner, eligible for publication and further development and collection by the writer. Trained writers and teachers led the sessions. Guest writers and artists from all over the region assisted in presenting fresh and stimulating activities.

Writing exercises and tasks, instruction with models of good writing, and creative avenues of expression are important to the process. Collaboration and sharing of individual writing is nurtured and valued at these sessions. Participants enjoy the social aspects of writing and sharing with friends that they make in the classes, as well, and cohesive writing friends have developed. Many of the participants have been with the program since its inception and continue to attend and participate in the gatherings.

Writing coaches and editors guide the editing process toward a culminating anthology of edited and polished essays and stories in Volume 3 of Voices, due out in April with funding provided by a generous grant from the Calaveras Community Foundation.

Classes will be located at various locations in the county once the schedule is back to normal. 

 Contact for more information: Monika Rose

(209) 728-6117 – manzanitawp@gmail.com

Publication of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Voices anthologies have been made possible by a generous grant from the Calaveras Community Foundation. Release of the third Voices of Wisdom anthology was in October 2020 at Ironstone Vineyards. Participants shared work from the new book.

We would like to thank Signal Service for their major funding support for Manzanita Arts Emporium & Manzanita Writers Press the last two years. Also a big thank you to Ironstone Vineyards for use of their facility, generous accommodations and support, and to the Kautz family.  

Support for Classes from March 2019 through November 2019:

This 2019 writing project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org

Note: “Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.”

 

 

2019 Instructors were:

Mid-March through April – Sally Kaplan

May through mid-June –  Sally Kaplan (in for Suzanne Murphy)

June-July – Chrys Mollett

August-mid-Sept – Monika Rose

Sept- end of October – Denella Kimura

November – Writing workshops, WORD Training, Peer and Self-editing, Writing Craft sessions, Guest speakers and writers, Manuscript organization & editing, and more.

2019 Book submissions and participant editing – November & December

December 7 – 2019 major reading event  –

Voices Book #3 release in October 2020 – Thanks to Calaveras Community Foundation for funding the publication!

manzanitawp@gmail.com

 

manzanitawp@gmail.com

 

 

 

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org