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Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

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Sheila Bender's Writing It Real
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Our New Anthology(#3) of Members’ Writing! Holiday Times: The Ones We Like Remembering, Others We’d Rather Forget

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 31, 2020 by Sheila BenderJanuary 18, 2021

Here it is in PDF format:  Holiday Times: The Ones We Like Remembering, Others We’d Rather Forget, our third Writing It Real anthology for free download. It features writing by 17 Writing It Real members and altogether has 18 pieces … Continue reading →

Posted in WIR2021 | Tagged personal essay, women's voices, writing inspiration | 1 Reply

On Creative Writing – Four Spotlights

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 3, 2020 by Sheila BenderDecember 17, 2020

On Creative Writing “The world — this shadow of the soul, or other me, lies wide around. Its attractions are the keys, which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself. I run eagerly into this resounding tumult…” –Ralph … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2014, WIR2020 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing inspiration

A Video Interview with Helen Donnelly Goehring, Author of Transformed by Grief

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 12, 2020 by EllenDecember 17, 2020

I am very pleased to introduce author Helen Donnelly Goehring live via Zoom. I think you will enjoy Helen’s discussion of how she came to writing and specifically to writing her book Transformed by Grief, published recently in Helen’s 88th … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2020 | Tagged on writing, video presentation

“Mother,” an essay from Helen Goehring’s Collection Transformed by Grief

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 5, 2020 by EllenDecember 17, 2020

I am pleased to share an essay by Writing It Real member Helen Donnelly Goehring from her recently published collection, Transformed by Grief: A Personal History. Helen’s essay “Taking Notes: Assisted Living” was a winner in Writing It Real’s 2012 … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Member Publications, WIR2020 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, women's voices

Interview with Jennifer Jamieson Woods About Writing Her Autobiographical Novel No Guarantees

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 8, 2020 by Jennifer Jamieson WoodsOctober 8, 2020

Last week, we posted Chapter 40 of Jennifer Jamieson Woods’ autobiographical novel No Guarantees.  This week’s post is an interview with the author about writing the novel she needed to write. Sheila Jennifer, thank you for sharing the story of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2020 | Tagged trust your writing, women's voices

No Guarantees by Jennifer Jamieson Woods — Chapter 40

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 1, 2020 by Jennifer Jamieson WoodsOctober 2, 2020

Chapter 40 of No Guarantees Josie went to work as usual on Monday morning. Although she was a person who found comfort in the predictable rhythm of life, today she felt irritated and bored with her life. She felt stuck … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2020 | Tagged women's voices

A Reading and a Print Interview with What Love Feels Like Authors Dave Cunningham and C.K.Tyler

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 3, 2020 by Sheila BenderSeptember 4, 2020

I am delighted to introduce authors Dave Cunningham and C.K. Tyler who have collaborated on a newly published novel entitled What Loves Feels Like: The Dawn of Human 2.0. In the video below and the Q&A following, the two speak … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2020, Writers Building a Community of Readers, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged Writing Fiction

PDF, E-Reader and Kindle Version Downloads Available for On Mishearing: Miseries, Mysteries and Misbehaviors

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 14, 2020 by Sheila BenderAugust 19, 2020

The Writing It Real August 2020 article is a compilation of writings by Writing It Real members for On Mishearing: Miseries, Mysteries, and Misbehaviors. EBook Formats We will soon have three different formats available. Which one you choose depends on … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2014

In Conversation with Charlie Fleishman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 9, 2020 by Sheila BenderJuly 9, 2020

Sheila is speaking with Charlie Fleishman, the sound engineer she worked with creating recordings for the program that aired for over six years on KPTZ.org 91.9. They discuss what went into creating the programs and most importantly what it mean … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Marketing Conversation with Marcella Smith, Publishing Coach and Career Book Buyer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 2, 2020 by Marcella SmithAugust 13, 2020

This month’s article is a video of a discussion many of us have been waiting for! I am talking with Marcella Smith, publishing consultant and Barnes and Noble career book buyer. In our conversation, Marcella fills in gaps for us … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2020 | Tagged On Marketing, on publishing

In Conversation With Richard Weeks

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 23, 2020 by Sheila BenderJune 23, 2020

Sheila is talking with Oregon writer Richard Weeks about the memoirs he writes about times past, decade by decade. A retired high school teacher, Weeks has honed the ability to tell stories that engage and delight.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Peg Edera

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 9, 2020 by Sheila BenderJune 9, 2020

Sheila is speaking with Portland, Oregon poet and spiritual director Peg Edera about her work with others and her poetry collection Love Is Deeper Than Distance: Poems of Love, Death, a Little Sex, Als, Dementia and the Widow’s Life Thereafter … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Gerry McFarland

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 27, 2020 by Sheila BenderAugust 13, 2020

Port Townsend poet Gerry McFarland reads from his poetry collection The Making, as he and Sheila talk about the collection and about the source of his poems.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Philip Kenney

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 13, 2020 by Sheila BenderMay 13, 2020

Sheila is talking with Philip Kenney, therapist and author, about how he came to writing, his new writing, and about his book The Writer’s Crucible: Meditations on Emotion, Being and Creativity.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Prologue to Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 8, 2020 by Maya SmithAugust 13, 2020

  You may have already read Maya Smith’s description of how she is approaching the writing of her book about the life of Alvenia Bridges, a woman of many lives. She answered questions about obstacles and joys of writing the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2020 | Tagged memoir

Maya Smith’s Description of How She is Writing Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 7, 2020 by Maya SmithAugust 13, 2020

Maya Angela Smith is an associate professor of Francophone studies at the University of Washington, Seattle with a PhD in Romance Languages and Linguistics from UC Berkeley. Her scholarship broadly focuses on the intersection of race, language, and mobility among marginalized groups in the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2020 | Tagged memoir, women's voices

In Conversation with Brenda Miller

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 28, 2020 by Sheila BenderApril 28, 2020

Sheila is talking with Washington State Book Award winner in memoir, Brenda Miller, about her updated third edition of the co-authored classic Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining and Publishing Creative Nonfiction.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Bill Kenower

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 14, 2020 by Sheila BenderApril 14, 2020

William Kenower is the author of Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion, and the Editor-in-Chief of Author Magazine. In addition to his books he’s been published in The New … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

What Possessed Me to Host Poetry Readings at Northwind Arts Center in Port Townsend for 13 Years?  

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 2, 2020 by William MawhinneyApril 2, 2020

On February 6, Poet William Mawhinney presented his farewell as the 13-year host of the Port Townsend Washington Northwind Poetry Reading series. At the start of National Poetry Month, his message will inspire all of us to listen to poetry … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2014

In Conversation with Robin Page

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 2, 2020 by Sheila BenderApril 2, 2020

Sheila is talking with Los Angeles novelist Robin Page about Small Silent Things, her novel in three voices.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Sue Pace

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 23, 2020 by Sheila BenderMarch 23, 2020

Sheila is talking with Everett, WA fiction writer Sue Pace about her short story collection and how those stories came about. 

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

How and Why We Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 5, 2020 by Sheila BenderAugust 13, 2020

The Writing It Real March 2020 article is a compilation of writings by Writing It Real members on a topic dear to our hearts–how and why we write. EBook Formats We have 3 different formats. Which ones you choose depends … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2020 | Tagged on writing, women's voices, writing life

In Conversation with Mindy Pollack

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 5, 2020 by Sheila BenderMarch 5, 2020

Sheila is talking with Mindy Pollack, Boston newspaper feature writer and first-time novelist, about her novel and her transition to writing fiction.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Joanne Clarkson

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 19, 2020 by Sheila BenderFebruary 19, 2020

Sheila is talking with Port Townsend poet Joanne Clarkson about her poetry and how family and a nursing career have influenced her work.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Susan Solley

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 7, 2020 by Sheila BenderFebruary 7, 2020

Sheila is talking to KPTZ radio soap opera playwright Susan Solley about her show the Port Ludlow Project, a zany episodic comedy.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Writing A Novel in Linked Short Stories: Interview with author Kathryn Trueblood

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 6, 2020 by Kathryn TruebloodFebruary 6, 2020

When I received a review copy of Take Daily As Needed, Kathryn Trueblood’s “novel in stories” from University of New Mexico press, I dove right into reading it. A novel in stories sounded a lot like how I often advocate … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2020 | Tagged on writing, reading for writing, Writing Fiction

In Conversation With Tess Gallagher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 23, 2020 by Sheila BenderJanuary 23, 2020

Sheila is talking with poet Tess Gallagher, a 2020 WA State Booksellers’ Award winner, about who and what have and continue to inspire her poems and creative life.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Virginia Thompson

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 7, 2020 by Sheila BenderJanuary 7, 2020

Sheila is talking with mathematician Virginia Thompson about her book series Family Math, the continuing project she created with others decades ago. We learn how activities in one’s passion area become books that help many more than one can meet … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Christina Baldwin

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 4, 2020 by Sheila BenderJanuary 4, 2020

Christina Baldwin is a writer and teacher whose work is embedded in community-making and story-catching. She is co-founder, with Ann Linnea, of PeerSpirit,Inc. and The Circle Way Process, bringing modern structure and application to the human heritage of circle. Christina … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Sheila’s Presentation About What She’s Learned from Writing, Istanbul, December 2019

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 2, 2020 by Sheila BenderJanuary 2, 2020

I visited Istanbul for almost a month recently, and while I was there, I spent a morning with members of Writing It Real member Yesim Cimcoz’s Yazi Evi (Writing House–you can read Yesim’s essay on the project’s beginning and growth … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2020 | Tagged on writing, podcast, writing advice

In Conversation with Dianne Avey

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 14, 2019 by Sheila BenderDecember 14, 2019

Sheila is talking with poet Dianne Avey about her poetry, the value it has for those in grief, and her experience directing a small writer’s conference on the Pacific Northwest island she calls home.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Tell It Slant: Author Brenda Miller on Writing Creative Nonfiction and a Generous Excerpt from the Book

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 5, 2019 by Brenda MillerDecember 13, 2019

Introduction to an Excerpt from Tell it Slant (Available from Powell’s and Amazon as well as your favorite bookseller). By Brenda Miller In 2001, when Suzanne Paola and I began talking about writing a textbook for creative nonfiction, no such … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2014, WIR2019 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises

In Conversation with Toni Kennedy

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 16, 2019 by Sheila BenderNovember 16, 2019

Sheila is talking with Toni Kennedy about her memoir, Far from Home, in which she explores the family life and personal attributes that led her to become a nun as well as leave the order 25 years later for secular … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Your Writing Is Your Worthy Friend

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 7, 2019 by Sheila BenderNovember 7, 2019

We know that writing requires a kind of sacred attention to what we see, hear, taste, touch and feel in our surroundings and memories. It can be difficult, though, to linger in those places when time flies swiftly by. It … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019

In Conversation with Lynda Monk

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 1, 2019 by Sheila BenderNovember 1, 2019

Sheila is speaking with the Director of the International Association for Journal Writing (IAJW.org) about her goals for the organization and how journaling helps people heal and transform their lives.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Molly Tinsley

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 16, 2019 by Sheila BenderOctober 16, 2019

Sheila is talking with novelist Molly Tinsley about her new novel, Things Too Big to Name, a literary mystery with a touch of the paranormal, all in the service of the protagonist’s deep self-reflection about a purposeful life.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Writing Between Paragraphs An Essay Forms

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 3, 2019 by Sheila BenderOctober 6, 2019

This week, wanting so much to write on the day that would have been my son’s 44th birthday, but not knowing how to put my heart-filled words on the page, I reread “Canoe” by Sherrie Flick, a story in 446 … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019

In Conversation with Marilyn Stablein

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 3, 2019 by Sheila BenderOctober 3, 2019

Sheila is talking with poet and book artist Marilyn Stablein about how her travels as a young woman and interest in the visual arts have influenced her career in writing and creating.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Kirk Boxleitner

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 20, 2019 by Sheila BenderSeptember 20, 2019

Sheila talks with award-winning journalist and film reviewer Kirk Boxleitner about his career in community journalism.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Excerpt From Molly Tinsley’s Novel Things Too Big to Name, Followed by a Q&A wth the Author

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 5, 2019 by Molly B. TinsleySeptember 5, 2019

This spring, thrilled to be reading a new novel by Molly Best Tinsley, both a teaching colleague and Writing It Real contributor, I was even more thrilled to have found a novel that I could not put down from the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2014, WIR2019

In Conversation with Edward Harkness

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 3, 2019 by Sheila BenderSeptember 26, 2019

Words: Sheila speaks with Seattle area poet Edward Harkness about his poetry career and teaching from its beginnings to his newest volume of poetry, The Law of the Unforeseen, and his most recent poems.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Writing the Emotionally Important Scenes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 1, 2019 by Sheila BenderSeptember 1, 2019

A Princeton professor I once read while for some reason I had no pen or device to record his name and the name of the article wrote that when we read a novel we are speeding up time as one … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2019

Writing in Letter Form (Epistolary Writing) Keeps You Going

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 22, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 31, 2019

I am reposting an article form the 2012 archives with exercises for using the epistolary form to stay inspired and to keep writing. I had been a reader of letters to Ann Landers and other newspaper columnists to whom the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019 | Tagged writing exercises

In Conversation With John Delaney

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 21, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 21, 2019

Shella is talking with poet John Delaney about his writing, both in the 1970s when he was earning his MFA, and his return to poetry now that he has retired from a career curating old maps for Princeton University’s library.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation With Gary Lilley

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 21, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 21, 2019

Sheila is talking with poet Gary Lilley about his new books, his start in poetry and what writing and teaching poetry means to him.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Beating Artlessness to Heal and Save Ourselves and Hopefully, Our World

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 16, 2019 by Sheila BenderFebruary 5, 2020

Emma Lazarus’ 1893 sonnet engraved on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty has been made famous again this week. The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019, Writing Makes a Difference

Writing About Grief, Writing to Protest and Take Action

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 8, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 8, 2019

Three mass shootings within seven days. Since January 2019, 979 people injured and 246 dead in such shootings. Waking up each morning to learn what new trick the current administration has for lowering morale in our country and treating people … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019, Writing Makes a Difference

In Conversation with Charlie Fleishman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 3, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 3, 2019

Sheila is talking with KPTZ sound engineer Fleishman about his own writing, his work with authors and his accomplished editing for “In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life.” Learn more about Charlie here.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

In Conversation with Ariadne Shaffer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 1, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 3, 2019

Sheila is talking with L.A. screenwriter Ariadne Shaffer, about her work, how she transitioned from acting to screenwriting, and the best ways for others to enter the field. Learn more about Ariadne here.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

4 More Podcasts of Writers in Conversation and 7 More Writer Resource Links Sure to Help and Entertain You in Your Writing Life

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 1, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 1, 2019

The list is endless, of course, but here are some of my favorites. First, four more podcasts from the Writing It Real archives and then seven more resources I’ve learned about and very much enjoyed recently. My hope is that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged reading for writing, writing inspiration

Listening to Writers–New, Emerging and Well-Published

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 25, 2019 by Sheila BenderJuly 25, 2019

Every month, two of my 30-minute interviews with writers air on  KPTZ 91.9 FM. Over many years now, I have interviewed not only well-published poets, journalists, novelists, memoirists and other creative nonfiction writers, but those who are at the beginnings … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2019, Writers Building a Community of Readers, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged on writing, reading for writing

Tattle Phone, a Writing Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 17, 2019 by Sheila BenderJuly 17, 2019

A few months ago, I was listening to Ira Glass on NPR while doing an errand. He was talking with David Kestenbaum about a preschool experiment in which kids were encouraged to say their complaints about unfairness into an unconnected … Continue reading →

Posted in 2019, Instructional Exercises | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration | 3 Replies

20 Online Sites to Increase Your Reading Pleasure Despite Today’s Pressures and Lack of Time

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 11, 2019 by Sheila BenderJuly 11, 2019

This week I am posting links to 20 sites that I’ve been “reading around” online. It’s summer and supposed to be those slow, lazy days, but there is so much going on for so many of us, that we may … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged reading for writing

Keeping a Travel Journal You Love, Part 2 from Tarn Wilson

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 5, 2019 by Tarn WilsonJuly 5, 2019

NINE TRAVEL JOURNALING EXERCISES Exercise 1 – Ask For What You WantAs one of my first entries, I set goals or ask for what I want from a trip. The activities are slightly different: setting goals implies I have the … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged writing exercises, writing life

In Conversation With Lauren Davis

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 27, 2019 by Sheila BenderJune 27, 2019

Sheila is talking with poet Lauren Davis about her poetry and participation in Port Townsend’s literary community.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Keeping a Travel Journal You Love, Part 1

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 27, 2019 by Tarn WilsonJune 27, 2019

[Summer often means travel and/or entertaining guests who have traveled to see you. Often times, we think of this as taking time away from our writing, but keeping a travel journal can keep us writing during our travels and during … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged journaling, writing advice

We All Have Opinions: The Argument and Persuasion Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 20, 2019 by Sheila BenderJune 19, 2019

Following the opinion pieces by Amy Hewes posted over the past two weeks, here is instruction on writing the argument and persuasion personal essay. It appeared in Writing It Real in 2014. I look forward to hearing from you in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2014 | Tagged personal essay, Writing Craft Tools

Keeping the Political Personal: “To Give or to Deny” by Journalist Amy Hewes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 13, 2019 by Amy HewesJune 13, 2019

As I wrote last week, I feel lucky to have recently had journalist Amy Hewes on my KPTZ FM radio program, “In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life.”  Here’s the link to listen to our conversation.  In it, Amy … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged Informational Writing, personal essay, reading for writing

The Opinion Piece: The Great Connector by Amy Hewes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 6, 2019 by Amy HewesJune 12, 2019

I was lucky enough to have recently had journalist Amy Hewes on my KPTZ FM radio program, “In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life.”  Here’s the link to listen to our conversation.  In it, Amy explains how she goes … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Podcasts, Reading for Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged Informational Writing, personal essay, reading for writing

In Conversation With Amy Hewes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 28, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 28, 2019

Sheila is talking with writer Amy Hewes about her work with New Times in San Luis Obispo. Hear her thoughts on what makes a good opinion piece and read her columns in the paper’s archives at New Times under Opinion, … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Writing to Explore Influence and Admiration, Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 21, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 21, 2019

Many of us know the poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night“ by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who is pleading in his famous villanelle that his father not easily give in to death.  The archetype of the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019

Writing to Explore Influence and Admiration, Part 1

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 21, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 21, 2019

Writing a litany of praise for anyone to whom you owe gratitude for life lessons will work in interesting ways if you take on the seemingly unpraiseworthy as if it were praiseworthy. You will get interesting results that push your … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry

Learning from Others’ Pieces Written in the Second Person

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 16, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 16, 2019

A participant in my recent online class,”You: Writing in the Second Person” shared a website with us: Dead Housekeeping: Moody Home Tips, which features a string of short pieces in the second person contributed by writers on subjects as disparate … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, WIR2019

In My Opinion: Letter to My Husband’s Uncle

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 9, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 10, 2019

5/9/19 Hello Harlan, We had a wonderful time recently celebrating my mother’s 92nd birthday with my daughter’s family and her in-laws, who have moved from the Midwest to a town just north of Seattle to be near their son and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2019, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged Epistolary writing, Informational Writing, personal essay

In Conversation with Stewart Pugh

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 6, 2019 by Sheila BenderAugust 1, 2019

Sheila is talking with Stewart Pugh about the work and connections he made in dismantling the late poet Gwen Head’s famous Dragon Gate Press in Port Townsend, WA. Visit Stewert’s blog to learn more about his varied interests and skills.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Job Review: How the Writer Within Sees Performance

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 2, 2019 by Sheila BenderMay 2, 2019

In the work world there are quarterly reviews in which employees do self-evaluations on how well they have performed in their jobs. Bosses also evaluate each employee’s progress. You can take this model as your opportunity to write as both … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2019

A Note from 40 Years of Teaching Myself and Others to Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 25, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 25, 2019

Sometimes I go to sleep with my heart full of sadness. A student’s poem that day about a bicycling daughter killed by a bus as it made a turn, someone’s essay about losing her son to a strep infection that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged on writing, writing advice

In Conversation With Marcia Myers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 21, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 21, 2019

Sheila is talking with new Port Townsend resident and writer Marcia Myers, whose coffee table books include Special Delivery, an interesting, illustrated history of the US Postal Service. Visit Marcia Myers Publishing on Facebook.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Revising Older Poems — It’s Never Too Late to Take Another Look

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 18, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 18, 2019

[This article appeared first in April, 2012.] April is National Poetry Month. Feeling a little badly that I hadn’t started new poems to celebrate the month, I decided to look through old files in a computer folder labeled “archived poems.” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Revisions - Sample Successes, WIR2019

Moving Your Reader in Time and Space

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 9, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 11, 2019

How do we move our writing and characters in time and space without slowing our readers down and certainly without confusing them? We must learn to stop doing what I call “taking the reader down the hall,” filling in the … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2019

In Conversation With Holly Hughes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 7, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 7, 2019

Sheila talks with poet Holly J. Hughes about her poetry and her teaching career as a writer. (Originally recorded on November of 2014)

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Listening to How a Poem Sounds Helps You Write Both Poems and Prose — Meaning is in the Sounds!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 4, 2019 by Sheila BenderApril 4, 2019

[The following article in honor of National Poetry Month appeared in slightly different form in March of 2003.] John Keats created the term “negative capability,” the idea that a poem holds within it one thing as well as its opposite. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged writing exercises, Writing Poetry

“Sanctuary,” Contest Winning Essay by Nancy Lamb

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 28, 2019 by Nancy LambMarch 29, 2019

Our guest judge Holly Hughes, wrote this about Nancy Lamb’s essay: In this essay, the narrator recalls her first visit to Martin’s Ranch in the red rock canyons high above Santa Fe and her first experience with the landscape as … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2019

In Conversation with Rashida Scholz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 24, 2019 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2019

Sheila talks with urban fantasy romance writer Rashida Scholz (pen name Jasmine Silvera) about today’s romance genre as well as her own Grace Blood series which feature an alternate present-day Prague, where a mortal woman draws on the power of … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Tender is the Harvest, A Winning Essay by Laurie McConnachie

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 21, 2019 by Laurie McConnachieMarch 23, 2019

Our contest judge Holly Hughes  wrote these words in choosing Laurie McConnachie’s essay as one of our three winners: This is a deeply moving account of a daughter who lost her mother to a brain tumor when she was in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2019 | Tagged contest winning essay, memoir, personal essay, women's voices

Beginning Again with Tree Spirits by Katlaina Rayne

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 14, 2019 by Katlaina RayneMarch 14, 2019

I am pleased to share another essay by a Writing It Real member. “Beginning Again with Tree Spirits” illustrates the diverse topics our members write about. Reading Katlaina’s essay will definitely change your relationship to the trees and forests in … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2019 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, women's voices

In Conversation With Constantine Singer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 10, 2019 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2019

Sheila talks with Young Adult writer Constantine Singer about his first novel, Strange Days, what writing for the Y/A audience lis ike, and his path to publication. You can visit him on facebook.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Creative Writing: Carpe diem, quam minimum, credula postera

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 7, 2019 by Gary LangfordMarch 7, 2019

I met poet, novelist, and playwright Gary Langford through a long time friend of mine who met Gary years ago in Australia when they were both young men. In the years since, Gary has written in many genres, run a … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2019 | Tagged on writing, writing advice, writing inspiration

“In Honor of Mr. Alfred Scott,” by Jean Peelen

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 28, 2019 by Jean PeelenFebruary 28, 2019

As Black History Month ends and we have learned more about black religious leaders, scientists, politicians, professors, film directors, sports figures, journalists, poets and authors, among many other professions, those of other ethnicities have had an opportunity to reflect on … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2019, Writers Building a Community of Readers, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged personal essay

In Conversation with Laura Weaver

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 25, 2019 by Sheila BenderFebruary 25, 2019

Sheila is talking with CO poet Laura Weaver about her work in Luminous: Poems and Inquiry for the Soul’s Journey. Learn more about Laura at lauraweaver.org. 

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Tornado Watch by Carol Smallwood

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 21, 2019 by Carol SmallwoodFebruary 22, 2019

Writing It Real contributor Carol Smallwood is a poet with several volumes to her name, a retired career librarian who has produced books of value to those who direct and run libraries and educational programs, and she is the editor … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, women's voices

Hey, Writing-in-Progress — Will You Be My Valentine?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 14, 2019 by Molly B. TinsleyFebruary 14, 2019

The relationship began three winters ago. Driving a country road in the early dusk, I hit a deer–or as a knowledgeable friend suggested afterward, a deer hit me. A buck with branching antlers leaped from the trees on one side … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged on writing, writing advice

In Conversation with Kevin Clark

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 10, 2019 by Sheila BenderFebruary 10, 2019

Sheila is talking with CA poet and professor Kevin Clark about his poetry, career in poetry and teaching. Visit kevinclarkpoetry.com to learn more about him.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Flash! It’s a Great Form to Practice!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 7, 2019 by Sheila BenderFebruary 7, 2019

What is flash writing and why do authors like to write flash pieces? It’s quicker to write than a novel or memoir. It’s a challenge to see how much you can say with a short word limit, up 500 to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2014, WIR2019 | Tagged flash, sudden nonfiction

Staying in a Committed Relationship With Your Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 31, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 31, 2019

According to Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, commitment means “the state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to an ideal or course of action.” Emotionally or intellectually are good words for the writer to fuse. To keep on writing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged on writing, trust your writing, writing life

Using Private Writing to Locate Your True Subjects

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 24, 2019 by Rebecca McClanahanJanuary 24, 2019

This week’s article is a second excerpt from Rebecca McClanahan’s instructional book Write Your Heart Out: Exploring & Expressing What Matters To You, published by Walking Stick Press. It originaly appeared in 2003. One of the problems with being a … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2019 | Tagged journaling, overcoming writer's block, writing exercises

In Conversation with William Powers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 23, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 23, 2019

Sheila is talking with William Powers about his memoir Dispatches from the Sweet Life: One Family, Five Acres, and a Community’s Quest to Reinvent the World.  You can learn more about his book, his life in building sustainable communities on his website williampowersbooks.com.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

A Writing Buffet-Help Yourself!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 17, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 17, 2019

It’s time for some post-New Year’s inspiration so I am reposting a slightly updated article that is full of quotes to inspire and approaches to creating new material from that inspiration. Thirteen years ago, my grandson Toby turned three.  All … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, personal essay, writing inspiration

Writing Toward a Clearer, More Centered Self Involves Poetry But Don’t Be Afraid!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 10, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 17, 2019

Writing poetry, no matter what genre you usually work in, is truly an experience of re-creating a self. In writing poems from experience and from meditative and reflective moments, you become the maker of something that builds increased intimacy with … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2019 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry

In Conversation with Peter Donahue

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 9, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 9, 2019

Sheila is talking with WA novelist Peter Donahue about his approach to historical fiction and writing about place as he authored There Sides Water: Three Short Novels, each of set in a different decade and location on the Olympic Peninsula.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Author Magazine Editor Bill Kenower Interviews Sheila Bender on Creativity and Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 3, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 16, 2019

In this video, I talk for ten minutes with Bill Kenower about my beginnings as a writer and what I know now about the craft and about the value of a life path in writing. Bill asked me some intriguing questions, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019 | Tagged on writing, writing advice, writing inspiration

In Conversation with David Cunningham

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 1, 2019 by Sheila BenderJanuary 1, 2019

Sheila is talking with Port Townsend writer David Cunningham about his career from sports writing to screen writing to his present new novel (What Love Feels Like: The Dawn of Human 2.0) and spiritual writing (Travel Within: The 7 Steps … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

The Past is Always in the Present, A New Year’s Greeting

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 27, 2018 by Sheila BenderDecember 31, 2018

About the size of my palm, the orange glass turtle with stout yellow feet has been with me since 1972. We started out in Matawan, New Jersey, where my 7th-grade class presented him to me as a goodbye gift–I was … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged personal essay, Trusting Images

In a Season of Lists, Write a Litany to Help Yourself Keep Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 20, 2018 by Sheila BenderDecember 20, 2018

It is holiday time and amidst the tornado-like whirl of shopping, decorating, traveling, baking, cooking, and gathering with family, friends, colleagues and community, of offering help in shelters and churches, it may seem hard to write. And even harder still … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2018 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

In Conversation with Mary Mackey

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 15, 2018 by Sheila BenderDecember 15, 2018

Sheila is talking with CA poet, novelist and Emeritus Professor about her writing and her career efforts to advance environmental awareness and women’s opportunities to publish their writing.  

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast | Leave a reply

A Joke and a Limerick: Two Kernels for Good Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 13, 2018 by Sheila BenderDecember 13, 2018

The two flash stories I am sharing this week offer you kernels for writing clever stories yourself. A Story with a Joke at Its Center Click over to “World’s Best Joke” https://www.passagesnorth.com/archives/issue-34/worlds-best-joke/ by Allen Woodman, one of my favorite short, … Continue reading →

Posted in 2018, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing | Tagged Writing Fiction, Writing Flash | 1 Reply

Writing Our Personal Stories for Others: Susan Smith’s “My Heart Attack Saved My Life”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 6, 2018 by Susan SmithDecember 6, 2018

I haven’t posted in the Writing It Real category of “Writing Makes a Difference” in a while now as I’ve concentrated on writing exercises to keep you inspired. This week, though, I am returning to that category to share Susan … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2018, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged Informational Writing, personal essay, women's voices

In Conversation with Nahid Rachlin

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 4, 2018 by Sheila BenderDecember 4, 2018

Sheila is speaking with Nahid Rachlin about her new novella published online and her long career writing memoir and fiction.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

I Can’t Get Enough of Flash Memoir!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 29, 2018 by Sheila BenderNovember 29, 2018

Writing Flash Memoir is great exercise for writers. I’ve been experiencing this in my own writing and editing and in the classes I have been teaching online and in-person. Getting to the point and writing tight while still relying on details … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018 | Tagged memoir, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises

In Conversation With Margie Butcher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 18, 2018 by Sheila BenderNovember 18, 2018

Sheila is speaking with Vashon Island elementary school teacher Margie Butcher about the way she facilitates her young students in writing grant proposals for environmental awareness projects in their school and community.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Enabling Voice by Molly Tinsley

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 15, 2018 by Molly B. TinsleyNovember 15, 2018

We praise writing for its voice, but run into problems when we try to describe exactly what it is we’re responding to. Just as we each have an identifiable voice when we speak, there is something we call a writer’s … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged on writing, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools

Taking Inspiration from Allen Ginsberg’s Poems to Have My Say

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 8, 2018 by Sheila BenderNovember 9, 2018

Tuesday, as I waited for election returns, I thought of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl,” written in 1955, so full of despair at what he had seen around him. I wondered what I would howl when I found out whether or … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Revisions - Sample Successes, The Working Writer, WIR2014, WIR2018 | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

A Gander at Propaganda

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 2, 2018 by Sheila BenderNovember 2, 2018

“The Institute for Propaganda Analysis: Protecting Democracy in Pre-World War II America,” an article authored by Zachary Reisch and kept in the Bryn Mawr Institutional Library, offers clarification about the exploration of propaganda in our country. “What is democracy?” Reisch … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration

In Conversation With Susan Landgraf

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 30, 2018 by Sheila BenderOctober 30, 2018

Sheila is speaking with poet Susan Landgraf about how she came to poetry, how her career as a poet began, and how it culminated in numerous published poetry collections.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

A Wonderful Genre: Models and Lessons to Help You Write Flash

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 25, 2018 by Sheila BenderOctober 25, 2018

For the past month, I have been teaching an online class in writing in the flash subgenre. Last Saturday, I taught an all-day in-person seminar on the genre. So, this week, I am sharing some of my lesson ideas and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises

Hiring the Journal Keeper (and/or the Writer Within)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 18, 2018 by Sheila BenderOctober 18, 2018

  …the heart…and the learned skills of the conscious mind… make appointments with each other, and keep them, and something begins to happen. Mary OliverA Poetry Handbook Whether you are someone who sets out to write poems, essays, stories or … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2014, Archives, Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2007, WIR2018, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged journaling, overcoming writer's block, writing exercises

In Conversation With Tess Taft

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 17, 2018 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2018

Sheila is talking with Port Townsend oncology therapist Tess Taft about how counseling her clients living with cancer diagnoses led her to become a writer. Google her name and learn about her talks and books.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

From The Writer’s Portable Mentor: What About Self-Publishing?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 11, 2018 by Priscilla LongOctober 11, 2018

Essayist, nonfiction author and poet Priscilla Long has given me permission to share an excerpt from her recently released new edition of her already classic book for writers, The Writer’s Portable Mentor. All of Priscilla’s advice is clear and sound. … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged Publishing

In Conversation With Rachel Fordham

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 2, 2018 by Sheila BenderOctober 2, 2018

Sheila is speaking with Marrowstone Island, WA’s new romance writer Rachel Fordham about how she started writing and publishing while mothering her own children and fostering other children.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Double Issue: Writing Exercises to Inspire You to Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 27, 2018 by Sheila BenderSeptember 27, 2018

Here is a collection of writing ideas to keep you going for days as our schedules start to fill with fall commitments and shorter daylight. Let the Seasons’ Personas Inspire You to Write It’s the change of seasons now. Some … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018 | Tagged journaling, writing exercises, writing inspiration

In Conversation With John O’Connor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 21, 2018 by Sheila BenderSeptember 21, 2018

Sheila is speaking with former Seattle resident, poet and songwriter, John O’Connor about how he came to writing poems and winning a distinguished contest for publication of his first volume.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast | Leave a reply

The Change in the Trees, How Strong the Wind is Blowing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 20, 2018 by Sheila BenderSeptember 20, 2018

As I update an earlier book of mine, A Year in the Life: Journaling for Self-Discovery, I will be sharing some of my favorite writing exercises with you over the next few weeks. Here’s the first of several lessons I … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Trusting Images, writing exercises

The Light Had Been Shining

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 13, 2018 by Sheila BenderSeptember 13, 2018

When I was in third grade, my teacher asked me to write a Chanukah play to be presented along with a Christmas play for the kids in my class. I am not sure how she identified me as a writer. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged trust your writing, writing life

In Conversation with Ellen Forney

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 10, 2018 by Sheila BenderSeptember 10, 2018

Sheila is speaking with Ellen Forney, Seattle cartoonist and graphic nonfiction book writer, about her career, her teaching, and her recent work about bi-polar disorder.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Moving an Essay Toward Completion — Pam Robinson’s “Table of Plenty”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 6, 2018 by Pam RobinsonSeptember 6, 2018

Pam Robinson’s entry into the fall 2011 Writing It Real contest is an essay about her memories of her mother’s cooking and life on a farm. As I spend time harvesting onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, various beans, Asian pears and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Reading for Writing, Revisions - Sample Successes, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged contest winner, personal essay, revising writing

On Labor Day: What Writers Might Celebrate About Their Vocation

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 30, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 30, 2018

The first Labor Day was celebrated by some on September 5, 1882, when Knights of Labor leader Peter J. McGuire requested that the first Monday in September be a day of rest for American workers. A parade in New York … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged on writing, writing exercises

In Conversation with Michael Buschmohle

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 29, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 29, 2018

Sheila Bender talks with Marrowstone Island, WA’s Michael Buschmohle about writing tips and his career in helping writers create and edit effective email, speeches, blogs and more.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast | Leave a reply

Prose Poetry in a Smoky Time

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 23, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 24, 2018

I was sitting at my dining table this morning with a cup of coffee looking out over the still smoky and haze-ridden sky we had experienced on the Olympic Peninsula for a week because of fires in Eastern Washington and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2014, WIR2018 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

To Love the World and Let the World Love You: August Advice for Writing Poetry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 16, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 16, 2018

August is the Gregorian calendar month named after the Roman Augustus Caesar, the man responsible for spreading the Roman Empire over the earth. He wrote about his great accomplishments, writings some think of as the typical age-old boastings of a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry

Nahid Rachlin on Her Writing With Generous Excerpts from Her Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 9, 2018 by Nahid RachlinAugust 9, 2018

This past weekend, I was in conversation with fiction writer and memoirist Nahid Rachlin about her books and writing career. for my radio show on KPTZ ?In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life.? It had been over a … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged memoir, on writing, women's voices, writing memoir

In Conversation with Bob McEliece

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 9, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 9, 2018

Sheila is speaking with author Robert Devereux McEliece about his reasons for writing a memoir about his boyhood and time in the armed forces.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Stay in the Physical World: How Using Sensory Detail Builds the Inner Story

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 2, 2018 by Sheila BenderAugust 2, 2018

Creative writing requires that we create experience through our words. We can’t just say a day was amazing, or it was depressing, or that a character felt ecstatic about something without our readers becoming disengaged. If we do that we … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Trusting Images, writing advice

In Conversation with Daniel Zobrist

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 29, 2018 by Sheila BenderJuly 29, 2018

Sheila is talking with retired Alaska Glacier National Park ranger Daniel Zobrist about the picture book he’s published to help children (and adults) understand glaciers, how they form and how they move. Author Dan Zobrist Shows off New Children’s Book … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Patricia Hampl, My To-do List and Fiddler on the Roof

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 26, 2018 by Sheila BenderJuly 26, 2018

I am so enjoying reading Patricia Hampl’s The Art of the Wasted Day. Early in the book, page 18, she records one of her many to-do lists. She says first that she admires Montaigne, know as the father of the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, writing exercises, writing inspiration

It’s Not that You Make Things Up — You Notice Things, Patricia Hampl in “Timelessness”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 19, 2018 by Sheila BenderJuly 19, 2018

It’s summer, oh, those lazy days. When was the last time you had one of those lazy days? If you are lucky, there were one or more of them and not too long ago. But with the political turmoil in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged writing advice, writing exercises, writing inspiration

In Conversation with Jonathan Stratman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Sheila is talking with Jonathan Stratman about his five novels, three for middle grades and two adult mysteries, each set in the Alaska of his growing up. Learn more on the author’s Amazon page.

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To Follow Your Words, Not Your Keys, Home

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 12, 2018 by Cyndi LloydJuly 12, 2018

Years ago, a poet friend of mine, Jim Mitsui, ended a poem with an image of people “following their keys home.” That image has lingered with me as a lesson about what the writing life saves us from, which is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Revisions - Sample Successes, Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged revising writing, Trusting Images, writing exercises, Writing Poetry

Style Is the Wardrobe, Hairdo and Makeup a Storyteller’s Voice Wears

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 5, 2018 by Sheila BenderJuly 5, 2018

[This article originally appeared online for the Eleven Stories online writing program.– Ed.] My mother called me after the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to talk about the bride’s gown. The daughter of a ladies coats and suit … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

In Conversation with Curtis White & Cheston Knapp

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Sheila is speaking with Tin House editor and essayist Cheston Knapp and experimental novelist and culture critic Curtis White during their 2018 joint book tour.

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In Conversation With Barbara Sjoholm

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Sheila Bender is talking with Port Townsend author Barbara Sjoholm about her newest book Black Fox, the story of Danish artist and ethnographer Emilie Demant who lived with Sami families in their tents and on migrations.

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Posted in 2018 | Tagged podcast

Endings Part II–Twists, Surprises, and Morals

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 21, 2018 by Sheila BenderJune 21, 2018

Here’s the second part of the series I created for Kahini’s Eleven Stories program. I hope you enjoy the short stories as you follow along on the included documents as I read. And, of course, I hope you enjoy my discussions … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

Endings Part One

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 13, 2018 by Sheila BenderJune 13, 2018

Here is a video I prepared for a program online called Eleven Stories. I hope you enjoy my talk (with documents in there so you can follow along as I read and lecture).  I will post Endings Part II next … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

An Approach to Writing Flash Nonfiction

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 7, 2018 by Sheila BenderJune 7, 2018

Flash prose, sometimes called flash literature, is creative writing between 500 and 1500 words. This term includes further subgenres prose poetry, short essays and vignettes. Like the longer essay, or something now called short memoir, the flash personal essay evokes experience and arrives … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged personal essay, Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises
Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Cris talks with our own poet and writer Sheila Bender, host of IN CONVERSATION about her poetry, teaching and most especially her book A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in Time of Grief. (First airdate: June 6, 2018) ► Listen … Continue reading →

Sheila Bender Offers Tools for Writers on Breaking Their Silence

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 31, 2018 by Sheila BenderMay 31, 2018

Earlier this month, I spoke with Linda Joy Myers of the International Association of Memoir Writers as a guest on her podcast series Breaking the Silence (the player link for you is below). I spoke about tools for getting to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged on writing, overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images

Enliven Your Fiction or Memoir by Weaving Complications into Your Story

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 24, 2018 by Jack HeffronMay 24, 2018

Here is an article, originally posted in 2003 that deserves our writing attention again. In The Writer’s Idea Workshop, author Jack Heffron sets himself the task of letting his readers know what to do after a first draft is on the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018

Author Experiences with Book Titles

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 17, 2018 by Sheila BenderMay 21, 2018

Have you had a difficult time finding a title for your work? Needed help from others or resented help from others when you thought your title was just right? Here are 12 stories by 12 writers about how titling worked … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged Publishing

More on How to Write the How-to Essay (and Why)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 10, 2018 by Sheila BenderMay 10, 2018

I’ve been teaching the how-to essay again and reading models. I love how the how-to format offers the personal essayist a structure that inspires poignancy, honesty, and humor. Here is an excerpt from my book Writing and Sharing Personal Essays. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged personal essay, Writing Craft Tools

Endings: From Seeds Planted in the Openings

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 3, 2018 by Sheila BenderMay 3, 2018

We have to leave a story, of any length, both satisfied and wishing the story stays with us—having fallen in love with the protagonists or having been at least drawn close to their situations, we want to carry the characters … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, WIR2018

“Talk Much?” by Morgan Baker 3rd Place Winner

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 26, 2018 by Morgan BakerApril 26, 2018

When our 2018 winter contest judge Kelli Agodon awarded 3rd Place to Morgan Baker’s personal essay “Talk Much?” she commented: As someone who loves finding words inside of words and who has struggled with dyslexia, I thought “Talk Much?” was … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2018

“Driving Home” by Barbara Simmons, 2nd Place Tie Winner, Winter 2018 Contest

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 19, 2018 by Barbara SimmonsApril 19, 2018

Our fall/winter 2018 contest judge Kelli Agodon felt that two poems tied for 2nd place. We posted one last week, ?Grave Site Visit? by Nancy Levinson, and this week we are posting the second second-place winning poem, Barbara Simmons “Driving … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2018 | Tagged contest winner, women's voices, Writing Poetry

“Grave Site Visit” by Nancy Smiler Levinson, 2018 Winter Contest Winner

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 13, 2018 by Nancy Smiler LevinsonApril 27, 2018

One of two writings tied for second place in our fall/winter 2018 writing contest is “Gravesite Visit,” a poem by Writing It Real member Nancy Levinson. Our guest judge Kelli Agondon described her choice this way: “Gravesite Visit” is a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2018 | Tagged contest winner, Trusting Images, women's voices, Writing Poetry

“Disturbing the Calm” by Judith Kvinsland, 1st Place

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 5, 2018 by Judy KvinslandApril 5, 2018

Our contest judge, Kelli Agodon, wrote this of her first choice piece in the fall/winter 2018 writing contest: Judith Barker Kvinsland’s essay, “Disturbing the Calm,” explores how sometimes, despite the ease of our lives, we need to take a risk. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2018 | Tagged contest winner, contest winning essay, personal essay

Recipes for Living Our Lives

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 29, 2018 by Sheila BenderMarch 29, 2018

We all have favorite recipes we’ve used for food preparation and sets of instructions we have followed to succeed in putting something together. What recipes or instruction sets might we write up concerning what we have learned in negotiating other … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018

Omniscient Narrator–Have fun with the all-seeing!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 15, 2018 by Sheila BenderMarch 22, 2018

I’ve made a short video for a program called 11 Stories that has “aired” for the people in that program. I am sharing it with Writing It Real members this week. In the video, I give a lesson on the third-person omniscient … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools

To Follow the Right God Home

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 15, 2018 by Sheila BenderMarch 22, 2018

I wrote this essay a year after my widowed mom moved from the home she had shared with my dad after his retirement. It was a new time in our lives, my mom widowed, my husband and I stepping up … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018

A Writer’s Digest Prize-Winning Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 8, 2018 by Vicki HortonMarch 8, 2018

Who among us wouldn?t envy the stamp of approval Vicki Horton?s personal essay ?Fishing with My Father? received from Writer?s Digest magazine in 2016? In answer to some of my questions about this writing and her writing life, Vicki responded: … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2018 | Tagged contest winner, reading for writing, women's voices

Crafting Stories for Children (and Adults)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 1, 2018 by Nancy LambMarch 8, 2018

This week’s article by Nancy Lamb is a repost from 2008. It includes information on easy readers as well as on shaping other stories for children (or for any reader, really).  Nancy Lamb, author of The Writer’s Guide to Crafting … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2018 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

Writing for Young Children: What’s an Easy Reader?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 22, 2018 by Beth BaconFebruary 28, 2018

Author Beth Bacon is teaching her popular online workshop “Writing for Young Readers ? Words of Honesty, Hope, and Wonder” for Writing It Real members March 15 – April 12, 2018. When I called Beth recently and asked her how … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2018 | Tagged Writing for Children

You: Writing in the Second Person

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 15, 2018 by Sheila BenderFebruary 15, 2018

There are many strong essays and stories written in the second-person point of view. One I’ve come across recently, “Bread” by Margaret Atwood, is especially instructive for its use of scenes to build an argument.  With just the right details … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2018

For Writers, “Finders Keepers” Can Mean “Finders Re-arrangers”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 8, 2018 by Sheila BenderFebruary 9, 2018

[This article appeared in slightly different form in 2014 — ed.] As writers, our ears are tuned for measuring the quality of the words we hear around us. Sometimes, our ears catch speech we think is pure poetry or could be if … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Trusting Images, writing advice, writing exercises, Writing Poetry

The Flash Sequence: A Form for Saying the Unsayable

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 1, 2018 by Sheila BenderFebruary 2, 2018

The flash sequence uses poetic leaps of association for examining the impact of difficult-to-articulate circumstances. Sometimes it is accomplished in journal entries, other times with meditations about place, or people or objects. Sometimes it is composed of collections of scenes. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, Trusting Images, writing exercises

Anna Quinn’s Novel The Night Child Holds Lessons for Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 25, 2018 by Sheila BenderJanuary 25, 2018

In The Night Child, Nora Brown, descends into the kind of fragmentation that results when traumatic events have been repressed, her world becomes anxious and dark. In Anna Quinn’s skillful hands, both the world inside of Nora (who is no … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools

January 2018 Favorite Online Sites for Reading and Publishing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 18, 2018 by Sheila BenderJanuary 18, 2018

As writers. we should always be on the lookout for interesting and helpful resources online as well as places to publish our own work. I share a lot of resources on Writing It Real’s facebook page and on Pinterest at The … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2014

To Explain How a Poem Grows

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 11, 2018 by Sheila BenderJanuary 11, 2018

This winter’s holiday school break, my grandson, now 15 and a half years old and equipped with his driver’s permit, took a two-week intensive driver’s education class. I certainly felt the passage of time as I remembered using an image … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry

A Writing Exercise to Help You Arrive at Deep Material

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 4, 2018 by Sheila BenderJanuary 4, 2018

Many say that the hardest part of writing is moving from daily activities to being able to create work that transcends the daily. There are ways, though, to launch new writing that unexpectedly gets you to your deepest material while … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, personal essay, reading for writing, Trusting Images, writing inspiration

It’s Writing It Real 2018 Contest Entry Time!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 28, 2017 by Sheila BenderDecember 28, 2017

Whether you are writing poetry, fiction or nonfiction, our first contest of 2018 is for you. The theme is: “A New Season.” And that can mean season of the year, turning over a new leaf, of one’s time in life, of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017

Writing to Remember and Be Joyful Even After Loss

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 21, 2017 by Sheila BenderDecember 21, 2017

The winter holidays are thought of as a time of joy, a time to chase away the northern hemisphere’s winter dark with lights, candles, sweets, gifts, gatherings and community festivities. To be sure, all of this is important, but for … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2017

A Talk for All Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 7, 2017 by Sheila BenderDecember 7, 2017

Listening to successful children?s book writer Patrick Jennings during an interview with him for ?In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life,? I realized again how much authors of books for young readers have to teach all of us … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2017 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing exercises, writing for young readers

Writers’ Strategies, Questions, And a Writing Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 7, 2017 by Sheila BenderDecember 7, 2017

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing memoirist and novelist Pam Houston. At the time of the interview, her book, Contents May Have Shifted, was Port Townsend?s Community Read. I did the taping on behalf of our … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2017 | Tagged on writing, reading for writing, Trusting Images, writing exercises

Write Your Own Manifesto

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 30, 2017 by Sheila BenderNovember 30, 2017

For several years now, I have been interviewing writers, editors, writing program directors and publishers for ?In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life,? my regular program on KPTZ FM radio. At Writing It Real, we archive the programs, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2017 | Tagged on writing, personal essay, reading for writing

A Must Read for Personal Essayists: “Learning to Drive” by Katha Pollitt

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 16, 2017 by Sheila BenderNovember 16, 2017

This is a revised and updated article based on one from 2002 when I first read “Learning to Drive: A Year of Unexpected Lessons” by Katha Pollitt, published in The New Yorker magazine. I hope you’ll read the essay and go on to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, women's voices

Cider Mills and Burning Leaves: Writing Fall

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 9, 2017 by Sheila BenderNovember 9, 2017

For us in northern states, fall brings shorter daylight, leaves to rake and cider mills to visit where we sip fresh apple cider and eat sweet doughnuts. We fill a nip in the air. In warm climates, fall begins the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, Trusting Images, writing exercises

Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait on the Wall, A Writing Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 2, 2017 by Sheila BenderNovember 2, 2017

Years ago one of my writing students wrote this line in class, “Ms. Failure paints her self-portrait, then hangs it on a wall in your world without asking permission.” He was speaking, he told us, of a time when he … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged journaling, writing exercises

Writing of the Body: Metaphor Making is Food for the Soul

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 26, 2017 by Sheila BenderOctober 26, 2017

In his book Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore writes about a client he saw in counseling who was having problems with food and dreamt that her esophagus was made of plastic and wasn’t reaching her stomach. Moore says: The … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing exercises

Existential Threat, an Article by Dahr Jamail

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 19, 2017 by Dahr JamailOctober 19, 2017

Writers write. Writers write to seek and tell truths, whether that is in poems, essays, memoir, fiction or articles. As writers, we must raise our voices in dark times, even when we think few are listening. I recently interviewed journalist … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2017 | Tagged Informational Writing

What is Epistolary Writing? Why Write in Epistolary Form?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 12, 2017 by Sheila BenderOctober 12, 2017

The word epistolary comes from the Greek epistol?, which means “letter.” Writers use the letter form in writing personal essays, poems, creative nonfiction and fiction because the form provides a ready-made container to hold an exploration of events and experiences. Writing in … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2017, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, writing inspiration

 On Finding Deep Power

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 5, 2017 by Sheila BenderOctober 5, 2017

What have writers shared about unleashing one?s best and most insightful creative work? G. Lynn Nelson, a professor of English at Arizona State University believes we must undo some of what we have been taught about language and use language … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged trust your writing, writing advice, writing inspiration

One More Waltz, An Essay by Nancy Lamb

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 17, 2017 by Nancy LambSeptember 17, 2017

There are times in a person’s life when everything is tinted gray and the future looks too dark to step into. Then in one single shift of the universe, something happens—we turn left, instead of right; we answer the phone, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, women's voices

“Sanctuary,” an Essay by Nancy Lamb

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 17, 2017 by Nancy LambSeptember 17, 2017

All of us benefit from the memory of a place held dear. Such a memory keeps us breathing; such a memory calms our nerves; such a memory refreshes when life’s difficult times enervate us. Read Nancy Lamb’s well-drawn description of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017

Game Stories: A Prompt that Works

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 14, 2017 by Sheila BenderSeptember 14, 2017

Two weeks ago, I posted an article with writing ideas for getting started on new material and asked those who wanted to do so to send me accounts of the games they have played and enjoyed, especially in childhood. My … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration

Stage and Screen Prompts to Help Your Writing Craft

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 7, 2017 by Sheila BenderSeptember 7, 2017

Whether you have wanted to write a play or a screenplay or are involved in writing memoir, thinking like a playwright will help you tell a story well by writing in scenes, creating evolving characters (yourself and others in your … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2017 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises

Hide & Seek: Using Childhood Games for Writing Prompts and Metaphors

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 31, 2017 by Sheila BenderAugust 31, 2017

In All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum writes about hiding in a pile of leaves in his front yard and not being found by the game’s seeker. He likens this hiding-too-well as a kid … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged writing exercises

Writing as a Walker in the City (Or Anywhere)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 24, 2017 by Sheila BenderAugust 24, 2017

Writers write. That’s the definition. And sometimes, we-who-write feel cranky and rebellious toward our job. That can lead to not writing and then to becoming upset with ourselves for not writing, for not being writers. For the prompts I share … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged journaling, overcoming writer's block

A Way Into Discovering More Than You Knew You Had to Say

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 16, 2017 by Sheila BenderAugust 16, 2017

William Zinsser edited a book in 1988 called Spiritual Quests: The Art and Craft of Religious Writing. In his introduction to the book, Zinsser states “the act of writing is ultimately a sacrament for both writer and reader.” The act … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2017 | Tagged writing advice

Reading Tarn Wilson’s The Slow Farm as a Writer Reads

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 10, 2017 by Sheila BenderAugust 11, 2017

For this video lesson, I have selected three passages from a memoir I love and admire, Tarn Wilson’s The Slow Farm.  I discuss them as a lesson on using details and sensory information to evoke the point-of-view of a memoir’s … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017

Writing Poetry for a Clearer, More Centered Self

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 3, 2017 by Sheila BenderAugust 3, 2017

Writing poetry, no matter what genre you usually work in, is truly an experience of re-creating a self. In writing poems from experience and from meditative and reflective moments, we are the makers of something that helps us come to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Poetry

Continuing: A Short Study of Writing Memoir As an Accumulation of Short Pieces

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 27, 2017 by Sheila BenderJuly 27, 2017

It may seem hard to imagine how to write a life in short pieces rather than with a more traditional narrative arc, but it works. Here are excerpts from memoirs-made-of-pieces that I like very much: Excerpts from Abigail Thomas’ What Comes … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, trust your writing, writing exercises

A Three-Part Study Guide to Writing Short Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 19, 2017 by Sheila BenderJuly 19, 2017

Part One To get a feel for short memoir, you might enjoy reading from Writers’ Digest magazine’s column called “5-Minute Memoir.”  Here are links to a few of the columns: Writing from the Mat Hidden in Plain Sight The Beauty … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged memoir, trust your writing, writing exercises, writing memoir

Admiring and Learning from Flash Writing by Jim Heynen

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 13, 2017 by Sheila BenderJuly 13, 2017

I have been an eager reader of flash stories by Jim Heynen for years. I’ve read The Man Who Kept Cigars Under His Cap, One-Room School House: Stories About the Boys, The Boy’s House: New and Selected Stories as well … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, Writing Fiction, writing inspiration

Reading as a Writer Reads — Taking a Lesson from the Writing in Just Fall, a Novel

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 6, 2017 by Sheila BenderJuly 6, 2017

I am an avid fan of Jane Friedman’s blog on writing and publishing. She is informative and up-to-date, presenting her expertise with scope and clarity. This week, I read her interview with screenwriter turned novelist, Nina R. Sadowsky.  I was … Continue reading →

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Posted in Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

Find the Motto Writer Within: Outcomes from the Writing Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 29, 2017 by Sheila BenderJune 30, 2017

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an exercise I call ?Find the Motto Writer Within.? Here are three writers’ outcomes from that exercise:The first is by Barbara Furniss, one of the writers I gathered to try out the exercises … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2017

A Useful Review for Employing the Five Senses in Writing Scenes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 22, 2017 by Sheila BenderJune 22, 2017

In writing, we only feel included as readers when our senses are involved. As we read with our senses involved, we learn more about ourselves and others by encountering the way the others record surroundings through their senses. As writers, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged reading for writing, Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools

Finding the Motto Writer Within

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 15, 2017 by Sheila BenderJune 15, 2017

We are motto (and affirmation) happy in our culture. We circulate phrases from manufacturers and social service organizations from “Just do it” to “Just say no,” from “You deserve a break today” to “I brake for animals.” After I studied … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged journaling, writing exercises

“Grave Matters”: Mary Ann Payne’s Writing Exercise Result

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 8, 2017 by Mary Ann PayneJune 8, 2017

I am pleased to share long-time Writing It Real member Mary Ann Payne?s writing in response to the writing exercise I shared last week. Grave Mattersby Mary Ann Payne It?s time to bury the piano. Chop it up in tiny … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged reading for writing, trust your writing, writing exercises

Burying the Dutch Oven: A Writing Exercise for Discovery

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 1, 2017 by Sheila BenderJune 1, 2017

A writing colleague of mine once shared in an essay that when she angrily broke up with a beloved college boyfriend under duress because her father didn’t like him, she took the Dutch oven they used for cooking and buried … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged journaling, Trusting Images, writing exercises

Contest Winner Linda Robertson’s Poems

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 25, 2017 by Linda M. RobertsonMay 27, 2017

In our final week of posting contest entries from the fall/winter WIR writing contest, we have seven poems by Linda M. Robertson. Our contest judge Sharon Bryan wrote this about selecting these poems as winners: These poems speak in a voice … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged contest winner, contest winning essay, Writing Poetry

“Long Meg Speaks” by Emma Hunter, a Winning Essay in the Fall/Winter WIR Contest

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 18, 2017 by Emma HunterMay 19, 2017

Our fall/winter writing contest guest judge Sharon Bryan chose Emma Hunter’s essay, “Long Meg Speaks,” as one of three winners. This week, we have the judge’s words about the essay as well as the author’s words about writing it, and, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged contest winning essay, memoir, personal essay

Writing It Real Fall/Winter Contest Winner Dorothy Ross’ “A Night at the Plaza”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 11, 2017 by Dorothy RossMay 18, 2017

[I will be posting the work of our recent three winners this week and then for the next two weeks. I hope you enjoy their comments about the writing of their work, our contest judge Sharon Byran’s comments, and, of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017 | Tagged contest winner, Writing Fiction

What’s the Writer’s Job? Getting Going and Keeping on Going

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 4, 2017 by Sheila BenderMay 4, 2017

When I teach in person, people sometimes show up having purchased a copy of the recently updated edition of my first instructional book on writing: Writing in a Convertible with the Top Down, which I co-authored with Christi Killien Glover. Their interest prompts me … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged trust your writing, writing advice, writing inspiration

Poetry and Essays by Carol Smallwood: Observer, Librarian, Philosopher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 27, 2017 by Carol SmallwoodApril 27, 2017

Librarian, poet and author Carol Smallwood came to my attention over the years when she emailed calls for essays to consider for anthologies she was editing. I was very pleased to learn about these anthologies and very pleased when she … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2017

Sheila Reads Her Poems for National Poetry Month

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 6, 2017 by Sheila BenderApril 6, 2017

For National Poetry Month, tonight I am reading from my own poetry at the link below. For me poetry is an everyday experience and so there aren’t any huge production values or perfect lighting in this video. Just me sharing my … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged Writing Poetry

Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 3

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 30, 2017 by Sheila BenderApril 5, 2017

Mining the Three Freewrites: Whether you have done these freewrites ( see Part 1 and Part 2) ?in the course of one writing session or over several days, find out what the freewrites have to tell you about an essay … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, personal essay, personal essays, trust your writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing memoir

Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 23, 2017 by Sheila BenderMarch 23, 2017

[The following article appeared first in “The Heart and Craft and of Life Writing.”] Last week’s article included a freewrite to get you going toward writing on a topic that surprises you or allows you to get into a piece … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged personal essay

Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 1

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 16, 2017 by Sheila BenderMarch 23, 2017

[The following article appeared first in “The Heart and Craft and of Life Writing.”] It  might not be obvious that those of us who write personal essays can benefit greatly from not knowing what we have to write about.  That … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, personal essays, writing advice

The Way I See It

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 9, 2017 by Sheila BenderMarch 9, 2017

“The Way I See It” is the “Prologue” from Writing Personal Essays: Sharing and Shaping Your Life Experience, Published in print and digitally by Sheila Bender’s Writing It Real, March, 2017 [Note: I wrote a slightly different version of this … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2017 | Tagged writing inspiration

Acknowledging the Value of Your Writing, Part 4

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 2, 2017 by Sheila BenderMarch 3, 2017

Creating Self-Understanding Despite Fears of Revealing Your Own Shortcomings and True Experience Before we see what writers have said on the issue of fear about revealing oneself through writing, try this exercise: Select four or so pieces of your writing. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged writers' block, writing exercises, writing inspiration

Acknowledging the Value of Your Writing Part 3 of 4

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 23, 2017 by Sheila BenderFebruary 23, 2017

Healing Through the Dark Emotions From journal writing to writing finished plays, memoir, poems and fiction, writers evoke and examine encounters with the dark emotions incited by misfortune, abuse, divorce, severe lack of confidence, fear of difficult and horrifying situations … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged writing inspiration

Acknowledging the Value of Your Writing: Exercises for Week One and Two of Four

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 9, 2017 by Sheila BenderFebruary 11, 2017

I have been teaching a class called “Writing is a Friend with Extraordinary Benefits” for a couple of years now through Women on Writing. I have been extremely engaged in what my students write and thrilled by the evidence that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged trust your writing, writing advice, writing inspiration

Writing About Painful Topics

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 2, 2017 by Sheila BenderFebruary 2, 2017

My friend, the essayist Brenda Miller, wrote the introduction to my memoir A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief. “I understood then,” she wrote, “that grief can be a channel in which you swim alone, where … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2016 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, writing advice, writing exercises

Help Writing Scenes That Engage the Reader (and the Writer)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 26, 2017 by Sheila BenderFebruary 6, 2017

In 2005, I posted an article with excerpts from Riding in Cars with Boys by Beverly Donofrio’s and A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries by Kaylie Jones along with exercises based on their writing. I am reposting the following short excerpts … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2016 | Tagged reading for writing, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

A Writer’s Role Models: Canadian Author Miriam Towes and Her 15-Year-Old Character Elfrieda

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 19, 2017 by Sheila BenderJanuary 19, 2017

This week, I have made a video for Writing It Real’s Weekly Article. In it, I share a passage from Canadian author Miriam Toews’ novel All My Puny Sorrows in which a talented 15-year-old piano player exercises her genius against … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged reading for writing, women's voices, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Scenes

Writing the Eulogy

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 12, 2017 by Sheila BenderJanuary 12, 2017

As my mother?s 90th birthday approaches, my husband and I have sorted through photographs from nine decades of her life. He is making a photo essay book to be given to her this Sunday and shared with guests at the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2017, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery | Tagged writing advice, Writing Poetry | 2 Replies

Toward Beginning A Year of Writing Poetry (Or Improving Your Prose Through Poetry)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 5, 2017 by Sheila BenderJanuary 5, 2017

For January: Dreams and Repetitions In this month of the inauguration of a new president of our country, it seems particularly appropriate and important to study the orators of our great nation who called out for freedoms we enjoy. Reading … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

Understanding Your Writing and Your Need to Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 29, 2016 by Sheila BenderDecember 29, 2016

How does one muster the courage to keep writing even when no one has asked for her to write? How does a writer handle restlessness and disappointment? The author Ralph Keyes writes in The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged writing advice, writing inspiration, writing life

My Sure Fire Methods of Self-Sabotage (and What I’ve Done to Turn Them Around)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 22, 2016 by Sheila BenderDecember 22, 2016

We’ll soon be thinking about the New Year’s Resolutions we want to make for 2017. For those who write, at least one of those resolutions will likely be about finding more time to write. I know that’s what I’d like … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, writing advice, writing life

What It Takes – An Exercise to Keep You Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 15, 2016 by Sheila BenderDecember 15, 2016

This time of year, we are often flooded with memories of our childhoods, especially of winter holiday times. Some of the memories may be of difficulties and some may be of times filled with excitement and joy. Happy or sad, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2016

Why I Want to Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 8, 2016 by Katherine ClarkeDecember 9, 2016

[Editor’s note: Sometimes I teach a class for Women on Writing that I call “Writing is a Friend with Extraordinary Benefits.” The following essay by Katherine Clarke is reprinted with permission of the author, is an example of what happens … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2016 | Tagged trust your writing, women's voices, writing inspiration

‘Tis the Season for Lists

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 1, 2016 by Sheila BenderDecember 1, 2016

[Note: I originally posted the following article in December, 2007. It’s holiday preparation time again and lists keep us sane. They can also keep us writing! Try the exercise I am suggesting based on writing lists poems. Try it more … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2016 | Tagged journaling, writing exercises, Writing Poetry

A Passion for Writing Might Save Us in These Times

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 22, 2016 by Sheila BenderNovember 27, 2016

What are we writers to do in a nation where so many young and old seem to have gone mad, publically shouting and bullying, using crude names for those of the female sex and for people of non-Christian religions and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged trust your writing, writing inspiration

Openings That Make You Continue Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 10, 2016 by Sheila BenderNovember 10, 2016

Often, we feel we can’t start writing because we are not inspired. Or we feel that we have become “flat” as writers when we look at what we have written. Here are 10 writing prompts inspired by the opening lines … Continue reading →

Posted in 2016, Instructional Exercises | Tagged reading for writing, writing exercises | 1 Reply

Deepen Your Writing: 20 Prompts Using Point of View

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 3, 2016 by Sheila BenderNovember 3, 2016

Many of us writing memoir are used to writing from the first person (I) point of view. Others of us write fiction in the first person, often as an autobiographically-based main character. Some of us write in third person (he … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016

Gathered by Author Priscilla Long: Tools for a Life in Art

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 27, 2016 by Priscilla LongOctober 27, 2016

Through books, articles and often in-person seminars, Seattle author and poet, Priscilla Long, shares her experience with those of us who write. Her recent book, Minding the Muse: A Handbook for Painters, Composers, Writers and Other Creators, is, at just … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2016

Writing Our Own Stories Helps Others Write Theirs: Essay by and Interview with Joan Leof

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 20, 2016 by Joan LeofOctober 20, 2016

Joan Leof’s collection of essays Matryoshka: Uncovering Your Many Selves Through Writing Personal Essays and Questions for Reflection is intended to share her personal experience essays in a way that encourages others to write from their experiences. After reading her … Continue reading →

Posted in 2016, From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, women's voices, writing inspiration | 12 Replies

In Conversation with Michael Dylan Welch on Haiku, Asian Forms and Longer Poetry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 13, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 13, 2016

I think you’ll enjoy this new radio conversation about the power of the image, whether you write poetry or write prose. And you’ll have the opportunity to hear Michael Dylan Welch read from several of his poems. After you listen … Continue reading →

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Focus on Emotions Using the Epistolary (Letter) Form

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 5, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 5, 2016

The late poet Richard Hugo was for many years head of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Missoula in Montana. In 1977, during a time of insecurity and writer’s block, he published a small volume of poems entitled 31 Letters and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2016, Instructional Exercises | 1 Reply

A Short Study in Prose Poetry – Questions and Answers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 29, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 2, 2016

What is a prose poem? “It is a piece of writing in prose having obvious poetic qualities, including intensity, compactness, prominent rhythms, and imagery.” — Chrome Browser Link. Why write it? “Baudelaire used prose poems to rebel against the straitjacket … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2016 | Tagged writing exercises, Writing Poetry

We Write to Feel and to Make Others Feel What is Genuine

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 22, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 2, 2016

When someone asks (or you ask yourself) why you write, I bet that many of the motivations you think to cite are on this list: • to understand your experience, • because you have a story in your heart, • because you can’t … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016 | Tagged on writing, reading for writing, writing inspiration

20 Prompts for Article Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 15, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 2, 2016

Want to write an article for a local publication, an online site or a niche publication in a field of interest to you? Here are some prompts to get you going: Write a tourist type tour of your town for … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2016 | Tagged Informational Writing, writing exercises

In Conversation with Meg Files and Jack Heffron

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 8, 2016 by EllenNovember 2, 2016

We have two new podcasts ready for you to listen to. They are conversations with Meg Files and with Jack Heffron. It was fun and informative having two of my favorite writing and teaching colleagues as guests this summer on … Continue reading →

Posted in From Our Contributors | Tagged on writing, writing advice, writing career, writing life | Leave a reply

What the Teacher Was Thinking

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 1, 2016 by Sheila BenderOctober 2, 2016

Whatever our role in life, however well we perform in it, there is always the not knowing if we are doing it right, if what we are trying to accomplish will be accomplished. Sometimes that situation offers us a prompt … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2016 | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration

23 Prompts for Revising

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 25, 2016 by Sheila BenderAugust 25, 2016

Author Joyce Carol Oates says, “The pleasure is the rewriting.” Author John Irving says, “More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn’t say I have a talent that’s special. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2014, WIR2016 | Tagged revising writing

20 Memoir and Personal Essay Writing Prompts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 18, 2016 by Sheila BenderAugust 18, 2016

Exploring your life on the page is daunting whether you are writing short memoir (the personal essay) or a book-length manuscript. Where does one start? How does one choose the highlights for the story’s exploration? How does one find surprises? … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged memoir, personal essay

Making Books from Lists Part II: Adam Diament’s Kosher Patents

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 11, 2016 by Sheila BenderAugust 11, 2016

Adam L. Diament, the author of Kosher Patents: 101 Ingenious Inventions to Help Jews be Jewish, is a practicing patent attorney in Beverly Hills, California. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies with an Emphasis in Judaism from the University … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2014, WIR2016 | Tagged Informational Writing

Rants and Raves — A Great Writing Strategy from Karen Lorene

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 28, 2016 by Karen LoreneJuly 28, 2016

“If I’d only known what was in this book forty years ago, how much more money would I have made and how fewer problems would I have encountered?” Karen wonders. Isn’t that true for all of us in our lives—if … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, writing exercises

Writing the Dear Mom Letter with Deborah Berger

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 14, 2016 by Deborah BergerJuly 14, 2016

 Deborah Berger asked women to write letters about what they never told their mothers.  Ultimately, she edited a selection of the contributions, along with profiles of their authors, into Dear Mom, Women’s Letters of Love, Loss and Longing. In her … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged reading for writing, women's voices, writing exercises

When Digital Isn’t Real: Fact Finding Offline for Serious Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 7, 2016 by Sheila BenderJuly 7, 2016

When Marlene Samuels found a publisher for her deceased mother’s World War II memoir, The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival, her editor at Penguin-Berkeley had two conditions. She would have to ensure the accuracy of all the book’s facts (the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged Informational Writing, reading for writing

Excerpt from Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Fantasies & Hard Knocks, My Life as a Printer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 30, 2016 by Gabriel RummondsJune 30, 2016

This book is a big one?in every way. In its 813 beautifully designed pages and over 450 gorgeous photos and images, a story unfolds not only of fine handpress printing but the man who printed works by many great 20th … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged memoir, writing inspiration, writing life

A Revision Success Story: Developing “The Longest Walk” by Arla Shephard Bull

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 20, 2016 by Arla Shephard BullMay 20, 2016

Writing It Real member Arla Shephard Bull worked back and forth with me on developing an essay that was important to her to write. She had decided to use the third person as a way of distancing herself enough to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Revisions - Sample Successes, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged personal essay, revising writing, women's voices

Another Fall/Winter Winner: Afrose Ahmed’s “the world did end…we just didn’t notice”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 24, 2016 by Afrose AhmedMarch 24, 2016

Our fall/winter contest judge Stan Rubin was struck with the lyric qualities in Afrose Ahmed’s entry, “the world did end…we just didn’t notice.” He wrote in his comments: “A gorgeous piece of lyrical writing. The odd but wonderfully sustained angle … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016

Contest Winner — The Meditation Room

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 17, 2016 by Amanda NobleMarch 17, 2016

Stan Rubin, our guest contest judge, shares these remarks about his choice of Amanda Noble’s essay, “The Meditation Room”: A nuanced portrayal of the shifting stages of private grief––and its gradual acceptance. This process is depicted with precision, intelligence, and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016

Fall/Winter Writing Contest: Emma Hunter’s “God’s Breath and Bolognese”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 10, 2016 by Emma HunterMay 19, 2017

Contest judge Stan Rubin, a master teacher, poet and friend of writing, wrote that Emma Hunter’s essay: Gracefully lives up to its rather daunting title, with wit and philosophical sweep. Concisely renders a dual vision — adult and child, the mundane and the cosmic — … Continue reading →

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Posted in Essay Contest Testimonials, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged contest winner, personal essay, writing memoir, Writing Scenes

Finding Form

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 3, 2016 by Sheila BenderMarch 3, 2016

Tarn Wilson delivered this paper for a panel on “Hydra-Headed Memoirs & Well-Connected Essays” at the 2015 Nonfiction Now conference. I am delighted to have her permission to post her words for Writing It Real readers. Tarn’s lovely memoir is … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged memoir, revising writing, writing advice, writing memoir

Excerpt from Route 66, a Nonfiction/Fiction Book Project by Jack Heffron

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 25, 2016 by Sheila BenderFebruary 25, 2016

In this excerpt from Jack Heffron’s book project?that combines fiction and nonfiction, you’ll notice the strength of Jack’s?scenes and dialog, exactly the craft skills?he?will be teaching this year at the June 9-12 Writing It Real conference. In the book, Jack … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged dialog, fiction, scene building

Venues Calling for Submissions

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 23, 2016 by EllenFebruary 23, 2016

HERE’S AN ONGOING LIST OF PLACES SEEKING SUBMISSIONS. CHECK BACK FREQUENTLY FOR MORE LISTINGS AND PLEASE, PLEASE ADD IN ANY VENUES OF WHICH YOU ARE AWARE. WE ALL APPRECIATE LEARNING OF OPPORTUNITIES TO SEND OUR WORK OUT FOR CONSIDERATION.

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Where Have You Been Published?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real

Go on! Brag a little or a lot. Include your blog url, literary journals, anthologies, books, plays produced–wherever we can find your writing. By learning where one another publishes as well as reading your work, we learn. Let us help … Continue reading →

Excerpt From The Third Law of Motion, a Novel by Meg Files

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 18, 2016 by Sheila BenderFebruary 18, 2016

The opening of Meg Files’ fine novel The Third Law of Motion?introduces the?book’s first-person narrative as we enter protagonist Dulcie White’s life as a college-bound high school student. In alternating chapters throughout the book, the young woman’s sometimes boyfriend, a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged women's voices, Writing Fiction, writing in persona

Clear the Debris of Abstraction and Sentimentality

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 11, 2016 by Sheila BenderFebruary 11, 2016

As the Presidential candidates for nomination continue to gather followers with predictable phrases, and pundits attempt to predict who the will be the frontrunners, I am reminded of the importance of writing toward felt insight. We need to leave abstracting and sentimentality behind if we … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing advice, writing inspiration

In Conversation with Three Very Different Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 5, 2016 by Sheila BenderJuly 5, 2018

Every few months, I sit with sound engineer Charlie Fleishman at the studio of Port Townsend, WA’s all volunteer FM station KPTZ.org and record conversations with four writers. Each of these Sundays includes telephone conversations with writers from anywhere in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Audio Interviews, WIR2015, WIR2016 | Tagged podcast

If You Want to Write…

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 3, 2015 by Judy ReevesJune 3, 2015

This week, Judy Reeves, author of the new book, Wild Women, Wild Voices, shares her thoughts on writing practice. Here article serves as a good review for all of us who are busy concentrating on revising and publishing and may … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, WIR2015 | Tagged on writing, overcoming writer's block, trust your writing, women's voices, writing inspiration

Excerpt from Good Morning Sam by Phyllis M. Washburn

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 27, 2015 by Phyllis M. WashburnMay 27, 2015

The following is an excerpt from Phyllis M. Washburn’s book Good Morning Sam. In this part of the story, Phyllis and her husband Ralph rescue Sam, a mute swan, from bleeding to death. In all, the couple shared twenty-four years with mute … Continue reading →

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Posted in Literary Gallery, WIR2015 | Tagged memoir

A Love Story: Interview with Phyllis M. Washburn on her book Good Morning Sam

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 21, 2015 by Phyllis M. WashburnMay 21, 2015

Phyllis Washburn sent me a copy of the book she’d written, Good Morning Sam, which includes many of her husband Ralph’s photos. In photos and words, theirs is the story of the mute swan Sam, whom they named when he … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015, Writers Building a Community of Readers | Tagged Informational Writing, Publishing

In Conversation with Beverly West

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 13, 2015 by Beverly WestJuly 5, 2018

Sheila talks with poet, journalist, and memoirist Beverly West about the writing of her memoir Finding My Way Back to 1950s Paris.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Wash and Shine the Fruit of Your Labor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 13, 2015 by Sheila BenderMay 13, 2015

I believe that we write in three stages–we act as playful inventors on the page, move on to the task of shaping our experience, and finally edit what we have written. Although these stages sometimes overlap a bit, on the … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2015 | Tagged editing your writing, revising writing, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools

Before and After: Shaping a Personal Essay Using the 3-Step Response Method

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 6, 2015 by Marjorie FordMay 13, 2015

The back and forth you’ll read this week on the development of an essay-in-progress demonstrates the power of my three-step response method for helping writers revise. Years ago, Marjorie Ford sent me an essay-in-progress that she was having trouble developing to her satisfaction for meeting an upcoming anthology … Continue reading →

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Posted in Revisions - Sample Successes, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2015 | Tagged personal essay, revising writing, Sheila Bender, Trusting Images

Get Real Response to Your Writing from Anyone

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 29, 2015 by Sheila BenderApril 29, 2015

We too often receive unhelpful, even harmful, response from first readers of our early drafts. We may feel our writing is being ripped apart or our readers are more interested in fixing punctuation and grammar than in our subject and feelings. Or we may … Continue reading →

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Posted in Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2015 | Tagged revising writing, writing advice

In Conversation with Rita Kepner

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 25, 2015 by Rita KepnerJuly 5, 2018

Sheila talks with author Rita Kepner about her memoir Through Fire and Water: True Stories of Rita Marie Matthiesen as told to Laura Callender, which she wrote using a pen name.

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Posted in Audio Interviews | Tagged podcast

Carol Smallwood, Poet, and Anthology Creator Extraordinaire, Tells Us How She Does It

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 22, 2015 by Carol SmallwoodMay 6, 2015

As both an accomplished writer and a career librarian, Carol Smallwood knows a lot about what women ask when they wish to learn about the writing and publishing process. Over the years, I’ve received email invitations from Carol asking for … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015 | Tagged Informational Writing, Publishing, writing inspiration

How We Write the Heroine’s Story: Interview with Author Jody Gentian Bower

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 15, 2015 by Jody Gentian BowerApril 15, 2015

Jody Gentian Bower’s new book, Jane Eyre’s Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine’s Story, is sure to change some minds about the path of women’s literature. I am pleased to post the following interview with Jody. I know … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2015 | Tagged reading for writing, women's voices

Haiku Poets Focus on What Matters Most: An Interview with Robert Epstein

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 1, 2015 by Robert EpsteinApril 2, 2015

Robert Epstein has invested years in conceiving and writing books, among them a series of impressive haiku anthologies. This National Poetry Month, I am delighted to post an interview with him that gets to the heart of how haiku connects us to … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, WIR2015 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

Sand Spirit Cards — A Tool for Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 25, 2015 by Pam Hale TrachtaMarch 25, 2015

Before embarking on a third revision of A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, an intense book-length personal narrative, I worked with writer, photographer and shamanic practitioner Pam Hale Trachta for guidance in knowing what I … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images, writing inspiration, writing memoir

Third Place Winning Essay — Winter Contest 2014

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 18, 2015 by LisaGHunterMarch 18, 2015

This week we present the third place winner in our 2014 Writing It Real Essay Contest. Our guest judge Midge Raymond selected Lisa Hunter’s essay, “Twelve Random Cards: A Self-Portrait in Archetypes.” Midge wrote this about her selection: “This clever … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2015

Second Place Winning Essay — Winter 2014 Contest

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 11, 2015 by Maureen MistryMarch 11, 2015

We are pleased to post the second place winning essay in this past winter’s Writing It Real essay contest. Our guidelines said the number 12 was to be somewhere in the essay in honor of Writing It Real’s 12th Anniversary. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2015 | Tagged contest winner, personal essay, women's voices

First Place Winning Essay — Winter 2014 Contest

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 4, 2015 by Gillian HerbertMarch 4, 2015

We are pleased to post the winning essay in this past winter’s Writing It Real essay contest. Our guidelines said the number 12 was to be somewhere in the essay in honor of Writing It Real’s 12th Anniversary. Our guest … Continue reading →

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Posted in Contest Winner, Literary Gallery, WIR2015

On Making Audio Memoirs

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 25, 2015 by Dorothy RossFebruary 28, 2015

Not long ago, Writing It Real member Dorothy Ross wrote to me about her newest project — recording the narratives she’s written about her life for her family to have in the form of audio files. I listened to a … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015, Writers Building a Community of Readers | Tagged personal essay, women's voices, writing memoir

Clearing Out Publishing Brain Fog

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 18, 2015 by Sheila BenderFebruary 22, 2015

Some of us write and don’t allow ourselves to even think we will publish because it seems out of our reach; others of us worry about publishing way too early, and, therefore, don’t write what we might. Writing comes first, of course, and … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2015 | Tagged agent, on publishing

Cognitive Therapy for Writers: Behave Your Way Into Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 11, 2015 by Sheila BenderFebruary 11, 2015

When it comes to writing, we so often undermine our efforts by thinking that we are not disciplined enough, educated enough, smart enough, skilled enough, or wise enough to call ourselves writers. We must find ways to change that thinking if … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2015 | Tagged on writing, overcoming writer's block, writing advice, writing inspiration

Bicycle Clothing – What Cycling Gear To Wear And When

February 1, 2015 by Abigail Thomas Posted in 2017, Member Publications Tagged cheap jerseys, cheap nfl jerseys from China

Four Prompts That Work for Getting Past Intention

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 29, 2015 by Sheila BenderJanuary 29, 2015

One of my favorite writing mantras is from author Ron Carlson: “Don’t think, write.” Another is my own sentence, “Intention kills the meaning-making.” What I’ve found is that coming to the page with a sense of anticipation about not knowing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2015

Costume Concepts Beginning With The Letter "T"

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 28, 2015 by Abigail ThomasJune 2, 2015

Costume Concepts Beginning With The Letter “T” Earlier than making your determination and even begin searching for a wig it is strongly recommended that you simply first think about the use and function you desire to it to serve in … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2014

Poet, Author and Writing Community Builder Esther Altshul Helfgott on Two New Books and Her Writing Life

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 21, 2015 by Esther HelfgottFebruary 22, 2015

Esther Helfgott’s life-long writing habit helped her weather her husband Abe’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and the grief of slowly losing their thirty-year partnership. Using writing as a tool to handle this profound life change, she created the moving memoir, Dear … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015

Excerpt from Susan Bono’s Collection What Have We Here

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 14, 2015 by Susan BonoJanuary 14, 2015

The following essay by Susan Bono is the title essay from her new collection What Have We Here: Essays about Keeping House and Finding Home. We reprint it this week with her permission. To learn more about Susan’s writing and the place of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2015 | Tagged personal essay, women's voices