Today on our show, we bring you a story by Janet Funk. Janet writes about her experience sharing an essay she wrote with her family prior to submitting for publication to. The essay was about the horrible fourth of July when her brother Robbie drowned and was published in Business Insider on July 3, 2024.

We’ll discuss the age-old-memoir questions: How do we write about and publish stories about the people in our lives? 

Janet’s essay was written from a prompt given in First Draft. The prompt was this: Write about Something Beautiful. Janet’s story is called Something Beautiful Happened When I Shared My Writing with My Family

Janet Funk lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband Johnny, two sons and goldendoodle. In her free time she kayaks, hikes and writes. She also works at the best thrift store in town.You can find her writing on her Substack https://janetfunk.substack.com/

A transcription of this episode is available through our network website.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler.

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There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours?