Previous Speakers
June, 2024 |
Brett Weiss
Anyone considering writing their life story, or those needing a hand in getting their memoir over the finish line, should stop by the Published Writers of Rossmoor’s next meeting, 10AM-Noon on Saturday, June 1, in the Fairway Room at the Creekside Clubhouse, when Brett Weiss, founder of YourLegacy:YourStory, will talk about turning folk’s fondest memories into a polished, professionally-produced book or video.
Brett Weiss grew up "in a Kodak family, thrilled by the film and slide projectors and the family memories cast upon the wall." In college he worked at a large wedding photography studio, cutting his teeth in the image production business. After several years in a variety of photo-production related jobs, honing his technical, management and entrepreneurial skills, he decided to "dive into the digitizing industry," converting and restoring traditional film photos, slides and movies into digital format. As the operation grew, Brett and his team recognized that the images and information they were handling were personal, first-hand accounts of their clients' lives and life events; thus the storytelling division was born, using clients' "collateral," i.e., their digitized images and documents to produce books, documentaries and websites for everyday people with great stories to tell.
The MyLegacyMyStory team works with clients to realize their projects "going from idea to concept to plan to finished product." Their services include planning, creative collaboration, ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, layout and design and more. What sets them apart is their singular expertise in collecting, digitizing, curating and restoring people's photos, home movies, videos and important documents.
The process, conducted mostly online, begins with a Creative Exploration Meeting, where the company meets with the client for initial discussions of objectives and concepts. From there they move to a Creative Planning Meeting where the company presents their project vision and budget, based on the scope of work, size of book, number of pages, amount of collateral to be included, writing and editing to be done, etc. Projects range from Narrative Books with little to no images, Photos-Only books, Combination books and Special Project Books. Most books fall within the 60-250 page range and can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000, depending on the scope.
Residents of Rossmoor, an incredibly diverse community filled with rich, compelling life stories, may find MyLegacyMyStory a valuable resource for organizing and telling those stories. Those interested in recording their histories in print--with photos, documents and narrative--may discover that Mr. Weiss's company can help turn their story into their legacy.
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May, 2024 |
Anne M. Breedlove
Anyone contemplating a 4000-mile bicycle ride--and those who wouldn't dream of it--should attend the next meeting of the Published Writers of Rossmoor, Saturday April 6, from 10AM-Noon in the Fairway Room at the Creekside Clubhouse, when guest speaker Anne Breedlove will describe the rigors and joys of international bicycle touring. Anne's new book, "Part-time Nomads: Traveling the World By Bicycle," tells the story of her evolution from middle-aged recreational bicyclist to World Loaded Bicycle Traveler.
Anne's account begins in 1997, when she and husband Jim signed up for a self-guided bicycle tour of rural France that "changed the direction" of their lives. After ten years of preparation, training and waiting for the right moment they took the plunge, retiring early to travel the world on two wheels, under their own power. In the ensuing eight years they rode across twenty-one countries and several U.S. states, braving extreme weather, harsh terrain, unexpected route changes and many other physical and psychological challenges while making new friends and strengthening their own relationship along the way.
A native of New York, Anne has lived in the Bay Area since 1972. A historian by profession, she researched 18th and 19th-century American women printers, her Master's Thesis, "Inspired and Possessed, San Francisco's Nineteenth-Century Women Newspaper Publishers," being published in the 2001 edition of the California Historical Society Quarterly.
Anne lives in Martinez with husband Jim. She is currently working on her second book of cycling adventures, detailing their post-retirement 6-month bicycle sojourn from California to Bar Harbor, Maine, and halfway back again. Aside from writing, Anne is a fine-art screen printer and enjoys yoga, swimming, gardening, long walks, all things French and spending time with her two grandchildren.