↓
 

Member Log-In

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Community Writing Resource

  • Home
  • About
    • About Sheila Bender
    • Videos
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Sheila
  • Media
  • Articles
    • Article Library
      • Full Article Library
      • Instructional Exercises
      • Literary Gallery
      • Reading for Writing
      • Revisions – Sample Successes
      • Sheila Bender On Writing
      • The Working Writer
      • Writing Makes a Difference
    • Writing It Real Contributors
    • Audio Interviews
  • Books by Sheila
    • View My Books
  • Classes
    • Online Classes
    • Live Seminars
  • One-On-One Services
    • Telephone Consults
    • Custom Tutorials
    • Book-length Manuscript Evaluation 
    • Development and Line Editing
  • Anthologies
  • Shopping Cart

Monthly Archives: February 2009

“The Legend of the White Zucchini,” An Essay by Mardi Link

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 26, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Mardi Link’s essay is a wonderful example of how narrating a story about a time you found something important to you allows you to weave themes of sadness and joy together into a full experience for the reader. The details in this essay, from the ones about the speaker’s sadness and lethargy following a divorce … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Online Personal Essay Writing Workshop + Membership, Development and Line Editing + Membership, Yesim Cimcoz Where Story Begins + Membership, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 11:00AM, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 2:00PM, Poetry Writing Workshop + Membership, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 11:00 AM, Summer Reading Summer Writing Plus Membership, Write More Healthy Starts Plus Membership, You: Writing in the 2nd Person Online Workshop Plus Membership, Keep Goin’ On Your Writing over the Holidays Plus Membership, Writing for Young Readers Plus Membership, Introduction to Scrivener — Plus Membership, Writing Healthy Starts + Membership, Eight Half-Hour Consults + Membership, Befriending the Giant + Membership, Write! Write! Write! Writing Exercises for Writing Prose from Personal Experience + Membership, Phone Consult: 3750 Words or Six Poems + Membership, The 3 E’s: Epistolary, Ekphrastic and Epideictic + Membership, Four Half-Hour Consults + Membership or New! Using the Flash Series Technique to Write Memoir.

Continue reading →
Posted in Archives, Literary Gallery, WIR2009

The Conversation Itself

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 19, 2009 by Jack HeffronDecember 5, 2011

Jack Heffron is one of the most versatile writers I know. I’ve read his short fiction, creative nonfiction, books on writing, books that he has ghost written and books that he’s edited (including my own). Recently, I read some of his interviews and it brought up some questions that I wanted to ask him. Sheila … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Online Personal Essay Writing Workshop + Membership, Development and Line Editing + Membership, Yesim Cimcoz Where Story Begins + Membership, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 11:00AM, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 2:00PM, Poetry Writing Workshop + Membership, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 11:00 AM, Summer Reading Summer Writing Plus Membership, Write More Healthy Starts Plus Membership, You: Writing in the 2nd Person Online Workshop Plus Membership, Keep Goin’ On Your Writing over the Holidays Plus Membership, Writing for Young Readers Plus Membership, Introduction to Scrivener — Plus Membership, Writing Healthy Starts + Membership, Eight Half-Hour Consults + Membership, Befriending the Giant + Membership, Write! Write! Write! Writing Exercises for Writing Prose from Personal Experience + Membership, Phone Consult: 3750 Words or Six Poems + Membership, The 3 E’s: Epistolary, Ekphrastic and Epideictic + Membership, Four Half-Hour Consults + Membership or New! Using the Flash Series Technique to Write Memoir.

Continue reading →
Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

“Embarkation”: A Poem by Meg Files

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 12, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Embarkation by Meg Files The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.  –Marcel Proust We believe we are prepared for this trip: all-terrain shoes, tiny clotheslines, mesh-sided shirts, new underwear, Columbia shorts, everything cute enough for each other. At the Quito airport, the driver holds a sign–Sally … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Online Personal Essay Writing Workshop + Membership, Development and Line Editing + Membership, Yesim Cimcoz Where Story Begins + Membership, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 11:00AM, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 2:00PM, Poetry Writing Workshop + Membership, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 11:00 AM, Summer Reading Summer Writing Plus Membership, Write More Healthy Starts Plus Membership, You: Writing in the 2nd Person Online Workshop Plus Membership, Keep Goin’ On Your Writing over the Holidays Plus Membership, Writing for Young Readers Plus Membership, Introduction to Scrivener — Plus Membership, Writing Healthy Starts + Membership, Eight Half-Hour Consults + Membership, Befriending the Giant + Membership, Write! Write! Write! Writing Exercises for Writing Prose from Personal Experience + Membership, Phone Consult: 3750 Words or Six Poems + Membership, The 3 E’s: Epistolary, Ekphrastic and Epideictic + Membership, Four Half-Hour Consults + Membership or New! Using the Flash Series Technique to Write Memoir.

Continue reading →
Posted in Archives, Reading for Writing, WIR2009

Sometimes Writing is a Matter of Memory and Resolve

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 5, 2009 by Jack HeffronDecember 5, 2011

How do writers decide what to write about? In “Death on a Quiet Street“, by Jack Heffron and John Boertlein, Cincinnati Magazine, April 2008, Jack Heffron writes: Last September, I was having dinner with my friend John Boertlein when the Bricca murders came up. John, who grew up in Delhi and has known about the … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Online Personal Essay Writing Workshop + Membership, Development and Line Editing + Membership, Yesim Cimcoz Where Story Begins + Membership, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 11:00AM, Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor – How Editing Helps You Find Your Way + Membership 2:00PM, Poetry Writing Workshop + Membership, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses – Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 11:00 AM, Summer Reading Summer Writing Plus Membership, Write More Healthy Starts Plus Membership, You: Writing in the 2nd Person Online Workshop Plus Membership, Keep Goin’ On Your Writing over the Holidays Plus Membership, Writing for Young Readers Plus Membership, Introduction to Scrivener — Plus Membership, Writing Healthy Starts + Membership, Eight Half-Hour Consults + Membership, Befriending the Giant + Membership, Write! Write! Write! Writing Exercises for Writing Prose from Personal Experience + Membership, Phone Consult: 3750 Words or Six Poems + Membership, The 3 E’s: Epistolary, Ekphrastic and Epideictic + Membership, Four Half-Hour Consults + Membership or New! Using the Flash Series Technique to Write Memoir.

Continue reading →
Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Sign up for Our Quarterly Newsletter for Updates on Classes, Conferences & More...

Search Writing It Real

Recent Articles

  • Writing of the Body: Metaphor Making is Food for the Soul
    July 3, 2025
  • The Story of an Unlikely Writer: Philip Kenney on How Writing Changed His Life
    May 19, 2025
  • Chapter 25 from All Roads Lead to Rome, Searching for the End of My Father’s War
    May 8, 2025
  • The Long, Instructive Path to My Published Memoir
    May 1, 2025
  • Sheila Reads Her Poems for National Poetry Month
    April 3, 2025
Journal Council Member

Podcasts ~ On Air with Sheila KPTZ Radio

  • In Conversation with Charlie Fleishman
  • In Conversation With Richard Weeks
  • In Conversation with Peg Edera
  • In Conversation with Gerry McFarland
  • In Conversation with Philip Kenney
  • In Conversation with Brenda Miller
  • In Conversation with Bill Kenower
  • In Conversation with Robin Page
  • In Conversation with Sue Pace
  • In Conversation with Mindy Pollack
  • Listen to More Interviews...
  • Sheila on KUOW
©2025 - Sheila Bender's Writing It Real - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑