For the second year in a row, I taught a memoir workshop at the Grand Marais Art Colony. Grand Marais is one of my favorite places in the world — what a great place to talk about writing and enjoy the outdoors.

The workshop ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (with a lunch break), but the time always flies. I covered topics such as the inner and outer story, universality, legalities and ethics when writing about real people, the importance of detail and description, and publishing resources and options.

Check out the Art Colony online for wonderful classes that they hold year-round. They host mostly visual art classes but have a small offering of literary classes.

On Friday and Saturday nights I walked around town and took pictures. Even though I’ve been to Grand Marais many times and go to the same places, the light and water is always different.

I thought this picture was amazing. I was in England on the North Sea in May and immediately I thought it looked like Grand Marais. Now I have photographic evidence!