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Three Writing It Real Members Publish the Story of Their 24-Year Writer’s Group

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 4, 2023 by Sheila BenderJanuary 6, 2023

I am asking for Writing It Real members to write articles about their book creation and publishing experience. We kick off the series this first month of 2023 with an article about the story behind the publication of Telling Tales … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors | Tagged Informational Writing, Publishing, reading for writing | 5 Replies

The Great Latke Debate

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 29, 2022 by Marlene B. SamuelsDecember 29, 2022

Each year, exactly two weeks before Hanukkah and beginning the year our family immigrated to the U.S.A., Aunt Esther and Mom began their debates. We had moved to a suburb only a fifteen-minute drive from Esther, my mother’s sister. The … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged memoir, personal essay | 2 Replies

On the Third Night of Chanukah 2022

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 22, 2022 by Carol J BlatterDecember 22, 2022

I write this on Tuesday, the 20th of December 2022, the third of eight days, along with other Jews, that I will celebrate the holiday of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Each night at sundown we light the candles on … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essays | Leave a reply

Hugs and Handshakes Can Be Wonderful Gifts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 22, 2022 by David D. HorowitzDecember 22, 2022

Each holiday season I buy about six to eight gift cards, redeemable at a coffee shop or bookstore. I tape one gift card to a greeting card and mail it to a particular friend. The greeting cards are not holiday … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay | Leave a reply

Interview with Alison Townsend, Author of The Green Hour: A Natural History of Home

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 1, 2022 by Alison TownsendDecember 1, 2022

I am excited to introduce you again to author and poet Alison Townsend. I have been reading her beautiful lyric prose and poetry for years. I admire her sense of place and nature in what she writes. With the publication … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Interviews | Tagged memoir, personal essay, Publishing, women's voices, writing inspiration, writing life | 1 Reply

Nowhere But Up from Here

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 17, 2022 by Pat DetmerNovember 17, 2022

Nowhere But Up from Here Dinner was ready to serve. Turkey, dressing, spices, pumpkin pie … the traditional Thanksgiving smells wafted through my sister’s small suburban home. It was nearly dark out. The cloudy day had dampened the sunset and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery | 4 Replies

My First Thanksgiving When Mom Was My GUEST!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 17, 2022 by Barbara SimmonsNovember 17, 2022

It was the year I moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, leaving the boarding school where I’d been teaching in western Massachusetts. I was living in an apartment – actually, the 2nd floor of an old home that had been carved into … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged memoir, personal essay, women's voices | 6 Replies

Turkey Musings by Writing It Real Member Mona Anderson

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 10, 2022 by Mona AndersonNovember 10, 2022

In autumn turkeys grace the field in front of our house almost daily.  Lately, these visitors, often up to twenty-five, have come closer to the house, maybe to forage fallen apples from the tree in the front yard.  Or maybe … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged memoir, narration, personal essay | 4 Replies

Thanksgiving at Our House by Writing It Real Member Suzy Beal

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 10, 2022 by Suzy BealNovember 10, 2022

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hey, you guys, Mom made seven pies this time, two cherry, two apple and three pumpkin!  She made cinnamon rolls and bread, too.”  We had to wait to eat until Uncle Mac, Aunt Mim and the cousins arrived. The whole house was warm and damp with odors wafting … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, narration, personal essay

It Wasn’t the Tryptophan by Writing It Real Member Patricia LaPointe

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 10, 2022 by Patricia LaPointeNovember 10, 2022

In mid-October 1969, my twin daughters were born a month early. After a few days in the hospital, we brought them home. What followed were days and nights filled with them drinking only an ounce or two of formula before … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged memoir, narration, personal essay | 2 Replies

Merle R. Saferstein Shares Her Knowledge of Legacy Writing and Why To Do It

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 3, 2022 by Merle R. SafersteinNovember 3, 2022

This month, I am pleased to introduce you to Florida author Merle R. Saferstein and her goal of helping others create legacy writing. She was director of educational outreach at the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Miami, FL and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer | Tagged journaling, memoir, personal essay | 1 Reply

Sheila Interviewed by James at Meet the Elite Free

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 25, 2022 by Sheila BenderOctober 25, 2022

As we end October, here is a link to a recent short (8-minute) interview podcast with me on why I write and why I believe in the value of facilitating others’ writing. I always enjoy writing about writing and why … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, Interviews, Sheila Bender On Writing | 4 Replies

Halloween by Sue Pace

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 20, 2022 by Sue PaceOctober 20, 2022

My husband was a schoolteacher and we lived in a very small town. He didn’t want our children trick-or-treating and I said we had to do something special for Halloween. So, we compromised. We seldom ate dinner at a restaurant … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 3 Replies

Marcia Breece of Publishing Partners in Conversation with Sheila Bender

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 13, 2022 by Sheila BenderOctober 13, 2022

40 minutes with Marcia Breece of Publishing Partners in Conversation with Sheila Bender offers writers a complete understanding of what a book designer and publishing partner can do for anyone interested in self-publishing. The information is also useful for small … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Leave a reply

Marlene Samuels Remembers a Terrifying Begger’s Night (Canada’s Halloween)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 6, 2022 by Marlene B. SamuelsOctober 6, 2022

Things that Go Grrrr in the Night by Marlene Samuels One particular year, Beggar’s Night fell on a Saturday. As luck would have it, it also was the Saturday evening our parents had, uncharacteristically, left us home alone longer than … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | 4 Replies

Writing It Real Member Julie Trout’s “Happier Halloweens”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 30, 2022 by JulieHayward-TroutSeptember 30, 2022

Happier Halloweens by Julie Trout Jake was happy with any holiday, but Kirsten had a favorite. Halloween. We dressed up, carved pumpkins, baked goodies, ate candy, and decorated the house with spiderwebs and green glitter. I loved watching my kids … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | 4 Replies

Pat LaPointe Remembers A Very Green Halloween

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 29, 2022 by Patricia LaPointeSeptember 30, 2022

It Wasn’t Easy Being Green by Pat LaPointe Many people might call Mom “creative.” As a witness and often the “victim” of her creativity, I would define it as “wacko.” One would need no more proof of this distinction than … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | 3 Replies

Back-to-School Memories by Carol Blatter

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 22, 2022 by Carol J BlatterSeptember 22, 2022

My Mom’s Good Taste by Carol Blatter Mom was very fussy about how I looked when I went to school. She had very good taste and she could go through a rack of dresses at almost the speed of a marathon runner and pick out the best, most fashionable ones. She knew how to buy … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in WIR2014

Back-to-School Memory from David Horowitz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 22, 2022 by David D. HorowitzSeptember 22, 2022

Conversation Starter by David D. Horowitz As a child, I always regretted the end of summer vacation. How I loved waking late, playing softball until dusk, and gathering afterward with friends for sodas, ice cream, and raucous conversation. School offered … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, Literary Gallery | 2 Replies

Back-to-School Memory by Julia Blocksma

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 8, 2022 by Julia BlocksmaSeptember 8, 2022

Memoir:  First Grade by Julia Blocksma My enthusiasm knew no bounds: I was going to start first grade, in a school in America! After years in Lahore, Pakistan, where my father, a surgeon, had helped start a hospital just after World … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged personal essay | 5 Replies

Kathy Harmon-Luber on Writing Her Book Suffering to Thriving: Your Tool Kit for Navigating Your Healing Journey

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 1, 2022 by Kathy LuberSeptember 1, 2022

I am pleased to publish my interview with author Kathy Harmon-Luber, a colleague, poet, and non-fiction writer whose book will touch many. Hearing from her on how she approached writing her book, organized her effort to write it, and then … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Member Publications | 1 Reply

Summer Memories by Mona Anderson and Linda Caplan

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 25, 2022 by Sheila BenderAugust 25, 2022

For our last week’s August posting two more Writing It Real members have sent in short essays about summer memories. I know you will relate and remember your own summer games and family time as you read. It is so … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 4 Replies

Suzy Beal and Michael Shurgot Write of Summer Memories

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 18, 2022 by Michael W. ShurgotAugust 20, 2022

My Parents’ House by Suzy Beal This twelve-hour drive begins in the dark hours of the early morning. Little girls strapped in their sleeping bags in the VW van, puppy at their feet in her box. Did I remember their … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 12 Replies

Summer Memories Essay by Writing It Real member Judy Kvinsland

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 11, 2022 by Judy KvinslandAugust 11, 2022

Outcomes By Judy Kvinsland The summer that I turned six years old, my parents bought our family home, a fifty-year-old shingled craftsman perched on a hillside in tiny Harper, WA on the Kitsap peninsula mainland, about seven miles from the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 1 Reply

Summer Memory Essays by Sandra Hurtes, Lynne G. Tenbusch and Carol J. Wechsler Blatter

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 4, 2022 by Sheila BenderAugust 5, 2022

Last week I begged for more essays and here are three generously shared by Writing It Real members for our post this week. Thank you three! Love Anyway by Sandra Hurtes It was a hot night in August 1969. My … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay | 2 Replies

Nancy Levinson’s Poem and Sue Pace’s Essay Triggered by Summer Memories

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 29, 2022 by NancyLevinsonJuly 29, 2022

Meeting My Sister in the Big Easy                             For Maurine By Nancy Levinson It’s a sauna not inside outside it’s June in New Orleans after all yet my younger sister and I are weathering the stifling air laughing at vanilla … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 5 Replies

SUMMER MEANS BASEBALL! by David D. Horowitz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 14, 2022 by David D. HorowitzJuly 14, 2022

Writing It Real member David D. Horowitz offers his memories of playing softball and baseball as a child. We learn and remember that even our best memories can be tinged by the experience of difficult situations. Whether your own memories … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Leave a reply

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 7, 2022 by Sheila BenderJuly 7, 2022

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 →

Posted in 2022, Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing | Tagged writing advice, writing exercises, writing inspiration | 3 Replies

I Am Grieving Today 6/23/22

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 30, 2022 by Pam Hale TrachtaJune 30, 2022

I am grieving today. This week has brought a firestorm of events that are devastating for an elder with daughters and grandchildren. The January 6 hearings have been riveting, dignified, terrifying and clarifying.  If we don’t clear out all the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors, Writing Makes a Difference | 1 Reply

“Friends of Patience” Writing It Real Member Response to June Article

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 9, 2022 by David D. HorowitzJune 9, 2022

When times become threatening, dangerous, and oppressive, we must write to show our humanity and influence others to do the same. Writing It Real member David D. Horowitz shares his thoughts. I hope that encourages others to take to the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, Community Discussion, From Our Contributors | Leave a reply

Write Grief, then Protest and Take Action

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 26, 2022 by Sheila BenderMay 26, 2022

Waking up each morning to learn what new horror has been committed inside this country, most often by white young men filled with hate, and what the NRA hypocritically says about their prayers and condolences while all the while they … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged writing exercises | 1 Reply

What We Think of When We Think of May, Writings by Mona Anderson and David D. Horowitz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 19, 2022 by Sheila BenderMay 19, 2022

I was delighted to receive submissions over this past week from Mona Anderson and David D. Horowitz, and I very much hope for more Writing It Real member writing to post next week as we close out May. It has … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, Writing Poetry | 1 Reply

Reflections on the Month of May by Robert Komishane and Linda Caplan

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 12, 2022 by Sheila BenderMay 12, 2022

I have the request out for people to write about the merry month of May and two Writing It Real members have shared work on the subject. First, we hear from Robert Komishane and enjoy his sense of humor and then from Linda Caplan, who writes of how May brings respite from anniversaries of losses … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in WIR2014

Michael Buschmohle on an Ellen Bass Poem and Barbara Simmons on an Amy Lowell Poem

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 26, 2022 by Sheila BenderApril 26, 2022

And we wind up National Poetry Month with two more short essays on impactful poems chosen by Writing It Real members. It has been a month of learning about poems new to us and poems to revisit. Thank you to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged women's voices, Writing Poetry | Leave a reply

David D. Horowitz Shares Today’s Impact of a John Dryden Poem from 1681

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 21, 2022 by Sheila BenderApril 27, 2022

Writing It Real member David D. Horowitz shares the impact on him of a 1681 poem by John Dryden. David operates an active poetry press, Rose Alley Press and writes poetry and essays. Visit his website to learn more about Rose Alley’s book list and for a list of events he sponsors and participates in. … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in WIR2014

Judy Kvinsland Writes of Finding Mary Oliver’s Poem Just When She Needed It

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 14, 2022 by Sheila BenderApril 14, 2022

Thank you, Judy Kvinsland, for reminding us of just how important poetry is when we are grieving. The healing it offers deep into our experience is incomparable. And in times of need, it is miraculous that poetry reaches out to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 3 Replies

My Mouth Hung Open by Sue Pace

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 7, 2022 by Sheila BenderApril 7, 2022

One of my Favorite Poems is “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. It is too long to include in this letter but may be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman. Hearing it read was the first time that I understood the power of poetry. … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Leave a reply

Writing It Real Member Richard Elam’s Letter About His Writing Life

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 31, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 31, 2022

We wrap up our epistolary writing for March with a joyful letter from Richard Elam about his writing life at age 93. Richard Elam Writes to My Husband and Me About His Writing Since He Moved from the Northwest to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 4 Replies

Letters About Learned Experience From Writing Books

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 24, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2022

Whether we want to explain ourselves to readers and editors and thereby to ourselves or use what we lament about our publishing process to help others along the path in publishing, writing about it helps us as writers and builds … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay, women's voices, writing advice | 1 Reply

Letters About Writing Their Books by Desiree Woodland and Sheila Murphy

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 17, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 17, 2022

This week we post two letters by Writing It Real members about why they have or are writing their books, one by member Desiree Woodland to the people she hopes will read her book because of their contact with young … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay | 5 Replies

Two Epistolary Essays by Writing It Real Authors to Their Readers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 10, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

March epistolary essays have begun arriving. This week enjoy two Writing It Real members’ letters to their books’ audiences. Whether you are writing to explain yourself to your audience (and thus to yourself) when it comes to the book you have written, are writing or would write, or trying to give those who might read … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | Tagged personal essay, writing exercises

Three More Epistolary Essays: to Memory, to Wisdom, to a Former Professor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 24, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

Here are three more epistolary works to round out our February posts. I hope you will leave the author comments at the article’s end and go to the other postings from February to read even more from Writing It Real members. Be sure to check out the challenge for March (any writing I receive by … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Two More Epistolary Apology/Regret Essays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 17, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

Our February epistolary writing posts continue this week.! I am grateful to Marlene Samuels and Kurt VanderSluis (co-founder of Writing it Real) for their pieces, Marlene’s to her mother, and Kurt’s to his father. Each piece is poignant and addresses loss. Marlene’s loss is of her mother’s presence and wisdom as Marlene herself becomes a … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Epistolary Apologies -Writing by David Horowitz and by Sheila Bender

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 10, 2022 by David D. HorowitzMarch 10, 2022

We are off to a good start for our February epistolary writing! I am grateful to David Horowitz for writing a piece for us to post this week. I also tried my hand at writing in this form and am posting my letter as well. I hope to hear from more of you. Here again … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Writing Inspiration from Victoria Chang’s Epistolary Essays in Dear Memory

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 3, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

Dear Mother, Dear Father, Dear Sister, Dear Brother, Dear Grandmother, Dear Grandfather, Dear Aunt, Dear Uncle, Dear Friend, Dear Neighbor, Dear Librarian, Dear Doctor, Dear Professor, Dear Roommate, Dear EX, Dear College Advisor, Dear Therapist— Who in your life had supportive, quality advice for you that you couldn’t follow and for what reason? Parental pressure, … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2022, The Working Writer | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration, writing memoir, Writing Poetry

Pat LaPointe and Marie Hartung Write Open Letters to Those Who Tried to Discourage Them From Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 27, 2022 by Sheila BenderJanuary 27, 2022

This week we finish off our January postings with two more open letters to those who tried to discourage our writing. I think you will enjoy these two and hope you catch up on reading the others posted all month. … Continue reading →

Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors | 4 Replies

Another Two New Letters to Those Who Discouraged Us About Our Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 20, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

I am so happy to be posting two more letters to those who discouraged you as writers. I know we all resonate with these situations. And again, I hope to see more of these letters in my inbox by 1/25 for posting in next week’s Writing It Real. Here are the two for this week: … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Two More Letters to Those Who Attempted to Discourage Us as Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 13, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

This week’s writings come to us via members Howard Tanzman and Julie Hayward-Trout. You will relate and you will chuckle after you’ve read them both, and who doesn’t need to feel affirmed and amused to balance the ship of authorship? Thank you both for submitting work. I hope additional members will be inspired to keep … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Three Letters to People or Entities Trying to Dampen Their Enthusiasm for Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 6, 2022 by Sheila BenderMarch 10, 2022

This month we have three examples so far of letters to persons or entities who have tried to dampen enthusiasm for writing with criticism, by limiting opportunities or by nurturing self-doubt. Thank you Writing It Real members David D. Horowitz, Harriet Cannon and Pat Detmer. I know WIR members will enjoy your words as have … Continue reading →

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Three More Dear Santa Contributions from Writing It Real Members to End December 2021

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 23, 2021 by Sheila BenderDecember 24, 2021

This week’s writings come from Cyndi Lloyd, Amy Muscoplat, and Lizbeth Hartz. I hope you enjoy these three and have enjoyed all of those from the past three weeks. Merry Christmas! Dear Mrs. Claus by Cyndi Lloyd 12 Dec. 2021 Dear Mrs. Claus, I understand Santa is super busy at this time of the year, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2021 | Tagged Dear Santa 2021

And the Next Four “Dear Santa” Writings 2021

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 16, 2021 by Sheila BenderDecember 16, 2021

This week’s Dear Santa writings come from Nancy Levinson, Christy Schwan, Barbara Simmons, and Mona Anderson.  I hope you enjoy reading them. Nancy Levinson, Dear Santa Dear Santa (s) I am scrambling through photo albums and shoeboxes of collected letters, pictures, magazine and newspaper clippings, searching for a note I left for you on our … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2021 | Tagged Dear Santa 2021

Four More Dear Santa Letters by Writing It Real Members

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 9, 2021 by Sheila BenderDecember 10, 2021

December 2021 brings to Writing It Real adult letters to Santa from members who contributed their thoughts, memories, and requests to the icon of Christmas for children and the parents who helped them believe in a beneficent universal spirit. It is my pleasure to continue the month of these letters with work from Pat Detmer, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2021 | Tagged Letters to Santa

Holiday Season 2021, Adult Letters to Santa

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 3, 2021 by Sheila BenderDecember 3, 2021

December 2021 brings to Writing It Real adult letters to Santa from members who contributed their thoughts, memories, and requests to the icon of Christmas for children and the parents who helped them believe in a beneficent universal spirit. It is my pleasure to start the month off with these three letters from David Horowitz, … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2021 | Tagged Holiday Writing

Telephone: essays in two voices by Brenda Miller and Julie Marie Wade

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 4, 2021 by Brenda MillerNovember 5, 2021

Authors Brenda Miller and Julie Marie Wade have published a book of collaborative essays rich in imagery and music. Published by Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Telephone: essays in two voices is, according to award-winning poet and essayist, Hanif Abdurraqib, “a stellar example of what can be achieved in collaborative work where two voices figure … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged memoir, on writing, personal essay

Good Neighbors, Bad Times Revisited by Mimi Schwartz, An Interview with the Author

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 30, 2021 by Mimi SchwartzOctober 4, 2021

“Memoir that bears witness to history, I’ve come to realize, is never a simple matter of finishing,” author Mimi Schwartz writes at the end of the preface to her new memoir, Good Neighbors, Bad Times Revisited, about her Jewish father’s pre-WWII German village. “‘That’s how it was’ changes with each new angle of vision—be it … Continue reading →

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Posted in WIR2021 | Tagged memoir, women's voices, writing memoir

Author Tarn Wilson on Writing Her Memoir In Praise of Inadequate Gifts And a Generous Excerpt

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 2, 2021 by Tarn WilsonSeptember 3, 2021

I was very fortunate to receive my copy of Tarn Wilson’s new book, In Praise of Inadequate Gifts, a Memoir in Essays the day before I left for 11 days of wandering beaches along the Oregon Coast. On the road with my husband driving to the next beach town, I thought about the chapter of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, WIR2021, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged memoir, on writing, personal essay, women's voices

Writing Oral History and Beyond to Personal Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 5, 2021 by Sheila BenderAugust 5, 2021

Years ago, before my father died of Parkinson’s disease, I interviewed him about his life as a young man and wrote what I now see as an oral history. Twenty years after his death, I have revisited that piece and tightened it. And I have revisited and tightened a revision of it I did that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged personal essay

Excerpt and Words from Brenda Miller About Her New Book A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 1, 2021 by Brenda MillerJuly 6, 2021

I am so pleased to share news of Brenda Miller’s new book, A Braided Heart: Essays on Writing and Form, available now for pre-order ahead of the July 13 release date. She has answered questions I posed to her and shared an excerpt from the book. A contributor to Writing It Real over many years, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged memoir, on writing, personal essay, trust your writing, writing life

Revision Lesson: How I Approach Shaping a Poem from a First Draft

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 3, 2021 by Sheila BenderJune 3, 2021

Recently, I was going through a box of saved drafts from decades ago. I had forgotten about the box and the poems inside. But the pandemic-induced itch to go through papers and clean up my studio had me in its grip. And I am glad that was so! Below is one of the writings I … Continue reading →

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Posted in The Working Writer, WIR2021 | Tagged Writing Poetry

Sharon Oard Warner on Writing the Novella, a Q&A with Book Excerpt

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 6, 2021 by Sheila BenderMay 7, 2021

Earlier this spring, I received a review copy of Writing the Novella by Sharon Oard Warner, and I continue to pore over it. I have loved many novellas in my time, often without even realizing they are novellas. Warner’s method of instruction (and identifying works as novellas) has encouraged me, and, I am sure, all … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2021 | Tagged writing advice, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction, writing memoir

Joanne Clarkson Shares Her Practice of Poetry and Several of Her Poems

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 8, 2021 by Sheila BenderMay 7, 2021

In March, my husband and I ran into Joanne while we were out walking and she was returning home from a walk. Over the CDC prescribed distance, we remembered the radio interview she had done with me for KPTZ, and I asked if she would be interested in a Zoom interview for the pandemic National … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged women's voices, Writing Poetry

Meet Author James Sulzer, Novelist of Emily Dickinson and John Keats

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 1, 2021 by Sheila BenderMay 7, 2021

Today is the first day of National Poetry Month 2021. I am posting an interview with James Sulzer, a remarkable writer, who spoke with me about writing two novels that not only celebrate two of history’s favorite and most influential poets but provide original ways of helping us understand their lives and hear in the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged reading for writing, Writing Fiction

About Creating and Performing “Is Story of Poor Sea Village Girl,” a Play by Writing It Real Member Mara Lathrop

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 4, 2021 by Sheila BenderApril 8, 2021

Writing It Real member Mara Lathrop created a project during the pandemic that offers us a chance to experience her play Is Story of Poor Sea Village Girl directed by Cynthia Stokes and performed by SAG actors, Mark Lewis and Abby Dylan. This month’s article includes a recorded “backstage” interview with the playwright and the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2021 | Tagged women's voices, Writing Scenes

Writing in Vignettes Can Generate a Book Length Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 4, 2021 by Marilea C. RabasaFebruary 4, 2021

In 2018 and 19, I worked with Writing It Real member Marilea C. Rabasa consulting on a second memoir she was compelled to write and wanted very much to get right. She wasn’t happy with the way it was unwinding and together we began the journey of finding a structure for the work that could … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Member Publications, WIR2021 | Tagged women's voices, writing memoir

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 that will make you laugh, cry, sigh and at times or shake your heads. View … Continue reading →

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

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 Waldo Emerson In the realm of creative writing today, genres and subgenres and names for … 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 year. If you haven’t read “Mother,” one of the essays from her book, which she … 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 essay writing contest. Eight years later, she has a whole collection out! Many of us … 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 writing No Guarantees as well as Chapter 40 from the book for Writing It Real … 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 at Casey’s without any alternative. She was going to have to divorce Rod. She didn’t … 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 to their experience of writing the book in collaboration and its short journey to publication. … 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 how you intend to read the anthology. But for now, only the PDF is operational. … 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 in our understanding of how book representation works. With this knowledge, we are equipped to … 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.

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

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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 book as well as how she used her academic research training to approach her interviews … 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 African diaspora, particularly in the postcolonial francophone world, seen most notably in her academic monograph Senegal … 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 read by poets, and perhaps a few who might want to create or help with … Continue reading →

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

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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 on how you intend to read the anthology. Print on Paper If you want to … Continue reading →

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

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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 memoirists I work with approach their work—discrete personal essays that when collected move toward an … Continue reading →

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

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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 here.) She videotaped my presentation, done in the form of questions and answers. In the … Continue reading →

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

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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 book existed. We had been cobbling together our own instructional materials for years, and together … 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 is my hope that by naming our writing as a true friend, we will be … 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 words about a daughter grieving her father. Those words ultimately inspired an essay for me … 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 moment I began reading to the moment I read the very last word on 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 book can contain may days, months, and years. But when we write, he said, we … 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 public wrote well into my teens. Even after my own children were grown, I continued … 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 land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, 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 each of us can get a hit of the old-time lazy hazy days of summer … 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 of their writing lives or have just had their work accepted by literary journals and … Continue reading →

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

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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 long for some online literature to come to our rescue when we aren’t quite settled … 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 Want As 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 power to make the trip successful by defining my vision and making conscious choices. … Continue reading →

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

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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 others’ visits to see us. I find no better advice on keeping a travel journal … 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 the comment section about your own experience writing in this form and about how this … 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 explains how she goes about writing her opinion pieces, and her explanation will help those … Continue reading →

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

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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 about writing her opinion pieces, and her explanation will help those of us interested in … Continue reading →

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

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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 father is strong in all of us, even if our own fathers remain enigmas to … Continue reading →

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

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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 writing past easy sentimentality or blinding anger to the important waters of insight. Praising What … Continue reading →

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

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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 as how to feed the yellow cat, how to have a house guest, and how … 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 grandsons. They are originally from the southern part of India and came here years ago … 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 boss of your writer self and yourself as the writer-employee. Here’s how: Write a job … 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 went to his heart, and someone else’s essay about grieving the mother she had and … 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.” I had completely forgotten some of the drafts I’d created. When I read them, I … 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 whole journey, every bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling and every crack 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 BenderOctober 19, 2022

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. For example, when we eulogize someone’s death, we also celebrate their life. When we ache … 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 sanctuary that’s still part of her today. In fresh descriptive language, the writer brings us … 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 BenderOctober 19, 2022

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 her late 20s—and how she learns to move through grief and open her heart to … 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 your towns and counties as well as inspire courage to write about topics you fear … 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 University Creative Writing Program, taught theater, and much, much more. Here he breaks down writing … 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 how learning of the strife of an oppressed group changed the trajectory of their own … 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 of writing books for new and experienced writers and teachers of writing. In 2018 she … 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 of the road, attacked the hood of my car with an ear-splitting crunch, then disappeared … 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 1500 or under 300 for microfiction (6 words, 50 words, 101 words, 150 words, 250 … 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 requires both an emotional and cognitive desire. A writer feels pleased and almost propelled to … 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 student who is “good with words” is that you may learn early on how to … Continue reading →

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

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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 of his grandparents attended his party in Seattle.  The day after, a work team was … Continue reading →

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

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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 your truest self. From this intimacy, you grow by creating a self that is more … 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 BenderApril 6, 2021

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 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, which I am happy to have answered. I hope you feel inspired to contemplate your … 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 moving to the West Coast with my husband, a transferring medical student. The turtle 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 to write to discover what is at the bottom of our hearts and minds. The … 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 Smith’s account of having a heart attack. She wrote this piece because little is discussed … 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 to move the reader into the story and move the story forward to its poignant, … 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. TinsleyOctober 19, 2022

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 voice that distinguishes his or her work. Faulkner’s fiction sounds different from Hemingway’s. A Mary … 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 not Democrats had gained a majority in the House of Representatives and, therefore, become able … 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 asks and he goes on: This is the question that liberals in late 1930s America … 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 links to model flash pieces, which I hope will encourage you to try your hand … 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 Oliver A Poetry Handbook Whether you are someone who sets out to write poems, essays, stories or articles or keeps journals, the thinking and analogy I make in this excerpt from … 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. I am grateful for the opportunity to share some of her thinking with Writing It … 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 of us feel crisp, chilly air as September wanes. Others of us may find other … 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 am enjoying revisiting: A Lesson From Morrie and Rilke Many of us have read Tuesdays … 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. Perhaps we wrote stories for class and she liked mine. How did I even know … 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 soon apples and second crop radishes from my own garden, I resonate with the harvest … Continue reading →

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

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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 City’s Union Square honored the working people of America. Thousands took the day off to … 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 in British Columbia. Sometimes we couldn’t see the islands so close to our shores here … 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 politician. However, others wrote after his death that upon innumerable occasions he donated money to … 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 decade since she and I had last held an interview, printed in The Writer?s Chronicle … 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 have created distance between ourselves as writers and our material and, eventually, between the story … 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 personal essay, for his ability to be rather than strive. He didn’t think of himself … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2018 | Tagged reading for writing, 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 the dullness of always expecting the expected, and what it requires of us, 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 designer, my mother grew up immersed in New York city’s fashion district. She called Markle’s … 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 of these kinds of endings: twists, surprises and morals, oh my!

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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 week. I’d love to hear from you about how this information helps and/or what questions … 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 at discovery through the writer’s telling. Because it is short, it maintains a firm focus … 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 your subject when you feel unable to address your material. That happens when you are … 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 page.  In his manuscript, he writes: As we move deeper into the project we’re developing, … Continue reading →

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