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Category Archives: From Our Contributors

Chapter 25 from All Roads Lead to Rome, Searching for the End of My Father’s War

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 8, 2025 by Bill ThornessMay 9, 2025

From our tiny second-floor apartment, the orange sun slipping past the horizon cast a harvest glow onto the rows of crops fanning out from the farmhouse. Sitting for Francesca’s simple farm dinner had settled an ache into my joints, and the satisfying meat and potatoes further tamped down the energy left from the day’s piedi … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2025, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2025 | Tagged memoir

The Long, Instructive Path to My Published Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 1, 2025 by Bill ThornessMay 1, 2025

[In this essay about writing and revising his memoir, author Bill Thorness generously shares his experience creating and publishing All Roads Lead to Rome: Searching for the End of My Father’s War –ED] Inspired by a cache of letters from my father that my mother allowed us to read after her passing, I decided to … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2025, From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2025 | Tagged memoir, revising writing, writing life, writing memoir

Merle Saferstein on the Wisdom of the Century Anthology Project, Interviews with 90 over 90

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 6, 2025 by Merle R. SafersteinFebruary 6, 2025

This month I am delighted to share a recent interview I had by email with Writing It Real member Merle R. Saferstein about a book project dear to her heart. I think readers will be inspired not only by the book itself, but by the teamwork that went into producing it. Sheila Wisdom of the … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Interviews, WIR2025

Philip Kenney on the Experience of Writing His Novel The Mercy Dialogues

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 4, 2024 by Philip KenneyDecember 5, 2024

Writing It Real contributor Philip Kenney has a new novel out, The Mercy Dialogues, and this month I “talked” via email with him about the premise of the novel, his reason for writing it, and what that experience was like. Writing a novel is certainly different than writing haiku, the form Philip Kenney mastered in … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, Interviews, WIR2014

On Writing Bylines and Blessings, Overcoming Obstacles, Striving for Excellence and Redefining Success

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 1, 2024 by Judy GruenAugust 6, 2024

Writing It Real Contributor Judy Gruen has a second memoir out. I had the lucky experience of interviewing her about how she came to write her memoir, Writing Bylines and Blessings, Overcoming Obstacles, Striving for Excellence and Redefining Success, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, Interviews, Literary Gallery | Tagged memoir, on writing, writing memoir | 1 Reply

I Am Grieving Today 6/23/22

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 4, 2024 by Pam Hale TrachtaJune 29, 2024

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 | 3 Replies

Editing a Poetry Anthology: An Introduction

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 4, 2024 by David D. HorowitzApril 4, 2024

Poet and cat lover, David D. Horowitz hatched the idea of creating an anthology of cat poems he would call Purr and Yowl: An Anthology of Poetry About Cats. Putting together any book of poems, whether one of one’s own … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, The Working Writer | Tagged on publishing, Publishing | 1 Reply

An Interview with Ruth Linnea Whitney on Writing Her Novel Mimosa Road & Tips for Others Who Want to Write Novels

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 7, 2024 by Ruth Linnea WhitneyMarch 7, 2024

Ruth Linnea Whitney is a novelist who has lived in Port Townsend, WA, on the Olympic Peninsula for decades. She is also a woman who has traveled extensively to third world countries with her doctor husband, who many times over … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, Interviews, The Working Writer | Tagged writing fiction based on truth, writing novels | Leave a reply

Memoirist Tarn Wilson Interviews Novelist Mike Karpa, Author of the Novel The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg, on His Writing Process

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 1, 2024 by Tarn WilsonFebruary 1, 2024

Tarn Wilson tells us: When I was in my twenties, I joined a writing group of more experienced writers, which, for fifteen years, felt like having my own creative writing graduate program. Mike Karpa was a founding member of that … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction, Writing Scenes | Leave a reply

The Fog: Prologue to Michael Karpa’s Novel The Wealthy Whites of Williamsburg

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 1, 2024 by Michael KarpaFebruary 1, 2024

The Fog Casey wandered the Port Authority bus terminal, newly disembarked off her bus from Memphis and feeling like midtown Manhattan had punched her in the face. A guy approached. The man looked like a farmworker who’d wandered in straight … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Leave a reply

Poet Susan Rich on The Cover Art Conundrum: What’s Best for Your Book?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 4, 2024 by Susan RichJanuary 4, 2024

On a summertime road trip between Newport, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, I started writing a book with my friend. As we sped up I-5 I sang to the highway exit signs: “The book you hold in your hands is a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2024, From Our Contributors, The Working Writer | Tagged writing advice | Leave a reply

Morgan Baker on Book Promotion 101

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 3, 2023 by Morgan BakerDecember 7, 2023

This week we are hearing from author and Writing It Real member Morgan Baker. You can listen to her reading an excerpt of her memoir Emptying the Nest: How to Get Better at Saying Goodbyes during an interview with Hippocampus … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, 2023, From Our Contributors, The Working Writer | Tagged book promotion, memoir, women's voices, writing memoir | 1 Reply

Rhonda Wiley-Jones Song of Herself Publishing Story and Chapter One

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 2, 2023 by Rhonda Wiley-JonesNovember 2, 2023

This month’s publishing article and book excerpt comes from Writing It Real member Rhonda Wiley-Jones. Kirkus Reviews summarizes her book Song of Herself, Atmosphere Press, September 22, this way: Wiley-Jones packs her narrative with a plethora of captivating themes and … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer | Tagged women's voices, Writing Fiction | 1 Reply

At 80, Dorothy Ross Followed Author Anne Lamott’s Advice, Got her Memoir Written and Published It.

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 5, 2023 by Dorothy RossOctober 6, 2023

Dorothy Ross’s memoir, NOT Just a Secretary, holds all the alertness and wry humor she evidenced during her years at work and in retirement. She shares a spirited description of getting her book written and then out there followed by … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer | Tagged memoir, on publishing, on writing, women's voices | 5 Replies

Mary Mackey on Creating Her Book Creativity: Where Poems Begin and an Excerpt from the Book

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 7, 2023 by Mary MackeySeptember 7, 2023

One afternoon as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and recovering from a near-brush with heatstroke, an idea for a short story popped into my head: What if a teenager in, say, the year 2039 started railing against … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | 1 Reply

The Journey to Fulfill the Dream of Becoming a Poet

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 3, 2023 by William MawhinneyAugust 3, 2023

For decades I jotted down phrases that captured images that came to me—a dollhouse staircase, a cat lapping sunlit water, or icicles reflecting a sunset like jeweled daggers—then stuffed them in folders or slid them in desk drawers. I never … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged Afghan women writers, Trusting Images, writing life, Writing Poetry | 3 Replies

Interview with Philip Kenney on Creating Only This Step, a Collection of Haiku

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 6, 2023 by Philip KenneyJuly 7, 2023

Philip Kenney and I met pre-pandemic at a Northwest Writers Association Conference in Seattle when we presented on the same panel. I was introduced to his book The Writer’s Crucible: Meditations on Emotion, Being and Creativity, which had been a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, 2023, Interviews, Member Publications, The Working Writer | 2 Replies

Writing and Publishing the Book Writing While Masked: Reflections on 2020 and Beyond

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 1, 2023 by Laura Celise LippmanJune 2, 2023

Writing While Masked: Reflections on 2020 and Beyond By Mary Ann Gonzales, Tyson Greer, Wanda Herndon, Laura Celise Lippman, Jane Spalding, Suzanne Tedesko, and Beth Weir, Published by Washington State University Imprint Basalt Books, 2022 Description from the publisher’s website: … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery | Tagged Publishing, women's voices | 2 Replies

Barbara Simmons on Publishing Her First Volume of Poetry:  Offertories: Exclamations and Disequilibriums

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 4, 2023 by Barbara SimmonsMay 4, 2023

The how, when, where, and why of the process – (the who is my “collected” writing selves) Early in 2021, a full year into the pandemic, I signed up to listen to Canadian writer and self-described writing “mid-wife,” Traci Skuce in a series she called “Write your First or Next Book” where she invited writers … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2014 | Tagged women's voices, writing life, Writing Poetry

Harriet Cannon on Publishing Her Novel Exiled South

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 6, 2023 by Harriet CannonApril 6, 2023

Exiled South is a dual time-line novel, that poses the question, can a contemporary woman’s international quest heal family wounds going back to the Civil War? After a personal tragedy, Lizbeth Gordon, returns to her home state of South Carolina … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Member Publications | 1 Reply

Mary B. Kurtz on Writing and Publishing Apertures, Findings From a Rural Life

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 2, 2023 by Mary KurtzMarch 2, 2023

My Path to Publication of Apertures: Findings from a Rural Life from Shanti Arts Publishing, September 2022 Premise My book, Apertures: Findings from a Rural Life, is a memoir-in-essays, following the examples of David Lazar’s Body of Brooklyn and Harrison … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Published | 2 Replies

On the Creation of Green River Saga by Michael W. Shurgot and Rick O’Shea

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 2, 2023 by Michael W. ShurgotFebruary 2, 2023

On the Creation of Green River Saga, a Novel by Michael W. Shurgot and Rick O’Shea Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, April 2020 When I retired as Professor of Humanities from South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia in 2006, I … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors | Tagged on publishing, Writing Fiction | 1 Reply

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

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

Continue reading →
Posted in 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

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 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

“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

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

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

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Posted in 2022, From Our Contributors

Finding The Muse: How I Met the Girl of My Dreams Through an Online Dating Site

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 1, 2022 by Rebecca McClanahanJune 1, 2023

Introduction As a poet and essayist, my canvas is life. Its array of hues, emotions, and experiences come together to form a symphony of words. Each verse, a story, and each sentence, a testament to life’s manifold beauty. But the … Continue reading →

Posted in 2023, From Our Contributors | Leave a reply

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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

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

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 →

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

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 →

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

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

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

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

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

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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 →

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

“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

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

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

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

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 →

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

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

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

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

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

Crafting Stories for Children (and Adults)

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

This week’s article by Nancy Lamb is a repost from 2008. It includes information on easy readers as well as on shaping other stories for children (or for any reader, really).  Nancy Lamb, author of The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children, has edited many books by those hoping to enter the young adult … Continue reading →

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

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

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

Author Beth Bacon is teaching her popular online workshop “Writing for Young Readers ? Words of Honesty, Hope, and Wonder” for Writing It Real members March 15 – April 12, 2018. When I called Beth recently and asked her how things were going, she was very enthusiastic about a new batch of easy readers she … Continue reading →

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

Existential Threat, an Article by Dahr Jamail

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

Writers write. Writers write to seek and tell truths, whether that is in poems, essays, memoir, fiction or articles. As writers, we must raise our voices in dark times, even when we think few are listening. I recently interviewed journalist Dahr Jamail for my KPTZ FM radio program (the podcast will be entered into the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2017 | Tagged Informational Writing

One More Waltz, An Essay by Nancy Lamb

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

There are times in a person’s life when everything is tinted gray and the future looks too dark to step into. Then in one single shift of the universe, something happens—we turn left, instead of right; we answer the phone, smile at a stranger, or meet an old lover. Something moves. And the light reappears. … Continue reading →

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

“Sanctuary,” an Essay by Nancy Lamb

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

All of us benefit from the memory of a place held dear. Such a memory keeps us breathing; such a memory calms our nerves; such a memory refreshes when life’s difficult times enervate us. Read Nancy Lamb’s well-drawn description of Cow Creek Canyon, a place she experienced as a child, and then try your hand … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2017

Game Stories: A Prompt that Works

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

Two weeks ago, I posted an article with writing ideas for getting started on new material and asked those who wanted to do so to send me accounts of the games they have played and enjoyed, especially in childhood. My thanks to Nancy Levinson, author of Moments of Dawn: A Poetic Memoir of Love & … Continue reading →

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

Find the Motto Writer Within: Outcomes from the Writing Exercise

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

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an exercise I call ?Find the Motto Writer Within.? Here are three writers’ outcomes from that exercise: The first is by Barbara Furniss, one of the writers I gathered to try out the exercises for?A Year in the Life: Journaling for Self-Discovery. The second is by Dorothy Ross, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2017

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

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

I am pleased to share long-time Writing It Real member Mary Ann Payne?s writing in response to the writing exercise I shared last week. Grave Matters by Mary Ann Payne It?s time to bury the piano. Chop it up in tiny pieces and put it in a deep hole in the backyard next to the … Continue reading →

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

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

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

[I will be posting the work of our recent three winners this week and then for the next two weeks. I hope you enjoy their comments about the writing of their work, our contest judge Sharon Byran’s comments, and, of course, the writing. – Ed.] Here is Dorothy Ross on why she is writing the … Continue reading →

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

Why I Want to Write

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

[Editor’s note: Sometimes I teach a class for Women on Writing that I call “Writing is a Friend with Extraordinary Benefits.” The following essay by Katherine Clarke is reprinted with permission of the author, is an example of what happens in this class — one writer’s words offering extraordinary benefits for each of us who write.] Like many people … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

In Conversation with Meg Files and Jack Heffron

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

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

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

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

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

Adam L. Diament, the author of Kosher Patents: 101 Ingenious Inventions to Help Jews be Jewish, is a practicing patent attorney in Beverly Hills, California. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies with an Emphasis in Judaism from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997 and a law degree from the University of San Diego … Continue reading →

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

Rants and Raves — A Great Writing Strategy from Karen Lorene

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

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

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

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

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

When Marlene Samuels found a publisher for her deceased mother’s World War II memoir, The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival, her editor at Penguin-Berkeley had two conditions. She would have to ensure the accuracy of all the book’s facts (the names of every town and city in Eastern Europe during the early 1900’s up to … Continue reading →

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

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

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

This book is a big one?in every way. In its 813 beautifully designed pages and over 450 gorgeous photos and images, a story unfolds not only of fine handpress printing but the man who printed works by many great 20th Century writers as well as prepared food for them and others in his own kitchens … Continue reading →

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

Finding Form

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

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

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

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

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

In this excerpt from Jack Heffron’s book project?that combines fiction and nonfiction, you’ll notice the strength of Jack’s?scenes and dialog, exactly the craft skills?he?will be teaching this year at the June 9-12 Writing It Real conference. In the book, Jack told me, the protagonist, Jack Finney, is a retired advertising executive who recently has been … Continue reading →

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

If You Want to Write…

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

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

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

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

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

Phyllis Washburn sent me a copy of the book she’d written, Good Morning Sam, which includes many of her husband Ralph’s photos. In photos and words, theirs is the story of the mute swan Sam, whom they named when he accepted them as part of his natural world. Over the years, the couple saved Sam … Continue reading →

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

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

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

As both an accomplished writer and a career librarian, Carol Smallwood knows a lot about what women ask when they wish to learn about the writing and publishing process. Over the years, I’ve received email invitations from Carol asking for contributions to anthologies whose subjects have rung true as extremely useful for women writers. I … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sand Spirit Cards — A Tool for Writers

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

Before embarking on a third revision of A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, an intense book-length personal narrative, I worked with writer, photographer and shamanic practitioner Pam Hale Trachta for guidance in knowing what I wanted to do in developing my manuscript. Because it is about my son’s death in … Continue reading →

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

On Making Audio Memoirs

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

Not long ago, Writing It Real member Dorothy Ross wrote to me about her newest project — recording the narratives she’s written about her life for her family to have in the form of audio files. I listened to a few of them and was so pleased to hear her physical voice. I immediately wanted … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2015

Excerpt from Susan Bono’s Collection What Have We Here

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

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

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

What Have We Here: A Conversation with Susan Bono About Her New Collection of Essays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 7, 2015 by Susan BonoJanuary 21, 2015

For writer and small press publisher (Tiny Lights) Susan Bono, the last thirty years have mostly been about trying to stay ahead of a husband, growing kids, aging parents, and an eccentric old house, in spite of detours, deadlines, unexpected changes, and inevitable losses. But through it all, she’s been taking notes. In her collection of … Continue reading →

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

My Marital Status

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 17, 2014 by James KullanderJuly 17, 2014

After reading that I’d mentioned an interview he did with Marion Woodman in a Writing It Real article, James Kullander contacted me. After reading the whole article, he offered permission to share another essay originally published in the December 2007 issue of The Sun magazine. “My Marital Status” takes a moving look at love and commitment, at what … Continue reading →

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

The Interview: A Way to Write More Complex Characters in Your Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 6, 2014 by Andrea ClausenJuly 9, 2014

Often when I try to write about my mother the same details surface. In my childhood memories she is always busy either working or participating on different committees; when she is home she is tired and does not like to cook. Now that I am an adult, my mother and I talk on the telephone … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools

Interview with Memoirist Tarn Wilson, Part III: Writing About Others and The Journey to Publication

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 25, 2014 by Andrea ClausenJune 25, 2014

Last week we posted Part II of my interview with Tarn Wilson about her memoir The Slow Farm. We talked about different ways of bringing back memories and how to write from a child’s viewpoint as an adult. This week, she shares the way she approaches writing about family members consciously and compassionately way, provides … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, Publishing, reading for writing, writing advice, writing memoir

Interview With Memoirist Tarn Wilson, Part II: The Art of Remembering

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 18, 2014 by Andrea ClausenJune 18, 2014

Last week we posted the first part of my interview with Tarn Wilson about her memoir The Slow Farm. Tarn and I talked about how she used artifacts to reconstruct the past and how she structured her book. This week Tarn and I discuss the art of remembering. Tarn tells us about how she finds … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, writing advice, writing memoir

Interview with Memoirist Tarn Wilson, Part I: Reconstructing the Past

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 11, 2014 by Andrea ClausenJune 11, 2014

I am a person who saves things, from the obviously important letter my father wrote me right before he passed away to the “might need it someday” notes from middle school. I have shoeboxes of unorganized photographs, rocks and shells from past trips sit on my bookshelves, and, rolled in a back closet corner, sit … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, Publishing, women's voices, writing career, writing life, writing memoir

Interview with Bonnie Rough on Her Book Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 4, 2014 by Andrea ClausenJune 4, 2014

Bonnie Rough’s memoir, Carrier, which won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award, includes extensive research via family stories, interviews, pictures, legal records, letters, and more, but it is her compassionate portrayal of her grandfather, Earl, who passed away soon after her birth, that keeps readers turning pages. He lived with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED), a genetic … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged family, illness, memoir, researching, women's voices

Writing Your Way in the Back Door: The Painting as Entry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 28, 2014 by Christine HempMay 28, 2014

Christine Hemp offers us her thinking about how we may find our prose and poetry’s true subjects followed by a writing exercise for practice and two sample poems. [This article and exercise were originally published in Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers, from Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, edited by Sherry … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing advice, writing exercises, Writing Poetry

Interview with Memoirist Sue William Silverman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 21, 2014 by Sue William SilvermanMay 23, 2014

I am pleased to publish this interview with award winning memoirist Sue William Silverman about the writing of her newest memoir and her advice to those of us who write from personal experience. The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew, follows two earlier memoirs, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged memoir, Publishing, trust your writing, Trusting Images, women's voices, writing advice, writing memoir

Celebrating and Learning from Poets — Final Four!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 29, 2014 by Sheila BenderMay 1, 2014

As April and National Poetry Month come to an end, we finish our series of poets on their poems. Stan Rubin, Michael Spence, Nicole Persun and Nancy Levinson have each offered us a poem along with their thoughts about writing it. I follow their work with writing prompts based on their contributions. Stan Sanvel Rubin … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2014

Celebrating and Learning from Poets — Another Batch of Three

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 23, 2014 by Sheila BenderApril 29, 2014

This week I am posting poems by three more poets whose work I have been following. Each has offered words about the creation of the particular poem included. And, as before, you’ll find writing ideas from me based on each of the poems. Let these poems live inside of you for a bit after reading … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2014 | Tagged reading for writing, writing advice, Writing Poetry

Celebrating and Learning from Three More Wonderful Poets

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 16, 2014 by Sheila BenderApril 16, 2014

We present three poets, offering one of their poems along with words about its creation. My writing ideas are each based on one of the poems and are useful whether you are writing poetry or prose.

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2014 | Tagged trust your images, writing inspiration, Writing Poetry

Celebrating and Learning from Three Wonderful Poets

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 9, 2014 by Sheila BenderApril 9, 2014

It’s National Poetry Month and I am celebrating poets I know whose work I have been following both in their books and by attending readings in my town and surrounding areas. Each of the next weeks, I will publish a poem by each of three of these poets along with their own words about their … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, WIR2014

The Strangest of Theatres: A Poet Writes Across Borders

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 5, 2014 by Susan RichMarch 18, 2014

Three accomplished writers have as editors acquired a collection of essays in The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Writing Across Borders in which poets explore the way their journeys to foreign lands helped them add to literature’s great conversation. Susan Rich, one editor of the three, whose newest poetry collection Cloud Pharmacy is just out from … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2014, Writers Building a Community of Readers, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, Writing Poetry

First Place Winning Essay – “Why I Write” by Mary Kurtz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 5, 2014 by Mary KurtzFebruary 6, 2014

Our fall/winter writing contest judge, Molly Tinsley, chose “Why I Write,” a personal essay by Mary Kurtz, as our first-place winner. Molly said in her notes about this essay: “Emotional control of the narrative makes Mary’s experience all the more riveting and poignant. I was swept up by the vivid flow of habitual action interrupted … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2013 | Tagged contest winner, contest winning essay, memoir, personal essay, women's voices

On Writing From Life

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 29, 2014 by Molly B. TinsleyJanuary 29, 2014

Our writing contest guest judge, Molly Tinsley, is now reading and making her selections of three contest winners in the recent Writing It Real contest. While we are waiting for the results, we are reprinting her article about writing memoir. It appeared orignally in the November 2013 issue of Author magazine.  Molly’s words on writing from … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, writing advice, writing memoir

People Who Write — Sandra Hurtes’ Story of Blog to Book

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 15, 2014 by Sandra HurtesSeptember 27, 2022

Sandra Hurtes created a blog, felt she had a book there, and engaged in the process of selecting and shaping the entries and adding to the material to create a book-length account of herself as writer.  The result is the very recently published The Ambivalent Memoirist: Obesessions, Digressions, Epiphanies, which has already garnered praise and … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Reading for Writing, WIR2013 | Tagged personal essay, Publishing, trust your writing, writing life, writing memoir

That Crazy Little Thing, a Novel that Tackles What’s Big for a Writer and Her Characters

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 4, 2013 by Kate M. BracyDecember 4, 2013

That Crazy Little Thing a debut novel by Kate Bracy has garnered wonderful reviews from readers and critics because of the author’s writing, the way she has developed her characters and how they explore issues of love — between friends, parents and their children, and adults looking for partners who understand them. Following Kate’s answers … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged writing advice, Writing Fiction, writing inspiration

A Coming-of-Age Vignette, Sage Advice, and the Writing Exercise They Inspired

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 20, 2013 by Rhonda Wiley-JonesNovember 20, 2013

When you read the following excerpts from Rhonda Wiley-Jones’ memoir, At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up and Growing Away, you’ll likely remember incidents from your own youth when you learned important things about yourself, perceptions that allowed you to see yourself in new ways. I’ve included a writing exercise to use … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, reading for writing, women's voices, writing exercises, writing memoir

Writer Tells All – A Narrative About Self-publishing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 13, 2013 by Rhonda Wiley-JonesNovember 13, 2013

Are you thinking of self-publishing and wondering what the process is like? It never hurts to hear from one who has successfully navigated the process. With humor and self-awareness, Rhonda Wiley-Jones takes us on her journey as writer turned self-publisher. Reading her narrative is like sitting in the chair next to her. When she’s done … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, Publishing, women's voices, writing memoir

From Idea to Publication: Rhonda Wiley-Jones on Her Memoir Project

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 5, 2013 by Rhonda Wiley-JonesNovember 5, 2013

When Writing It Real member Rhonda Wiley-Jones published her travel/coming-of-age memoir, parts of which she had worked on through Writing It Real contests and editorial help, I was eager to hear what she’d learned in her process of moving from the initial essays to a book-length manuscript. What follows are her interesting and thoughtful replies … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, Publishing, writing life, writing memoir

Using Anaphora — A Model for a Speech

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 16, 2013 by Emily M. BenderOctober 16, 2013

When my daughter Emily Bender was writing a Valedictorian speech to be delivered at her UC Berkeley graduation, she was nervous about having something worth saying. With all of the demands of her life as a graduating senior, she had mulled the speech over but not found a way of tying things together. The she … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, Reading for Writing, WIR2013 | Tagged how to write a speech, personal essays, Valedictorian speech, Writing Craft Tools

On Writing the Eulogy

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 2, 2013 by David ReichOctober 2, 2013

As writers, we are frequently the ones asked to write eulogies for friends and family members. Even if we are not asked, we may feel moved to write eulogies to honor those we loved and then to share our writing with a literary audience. Reading author David Reich’s eulogy for his father and considering the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged personal essay, reading for writing, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools

Everyday Book Marketing for Authors

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 11, 2013 by Midge RaymondSeptember 11, 2013

On September 29, 2013, Midge Raymond is participating in the launch of Adventure by the Book’s Author Academy in San Diego. Adventures by the Book, founded by Susan McBeth, offers worldwide opportunities for readers to connect with authors’ travel and events. The Author Academy, an ongoing series of monthly events for authors, is a new … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged Informational Writing, Publishing, writing advice, writing career

Tips for Creating a Great Author Photo and Bio

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 4, 2013 by Midge RaymondSeptember 5, 2013

If you are preparing a manuscript for publication or creating a blog to build a platform for your work, you will find tips by fiction writer and publisher Midge Raymond extremely useful. This article is excerpted from her recent book in Everyday Book Marketing: Promotion Ideas to Fit Your Regularly Scheduled Life. The Author Photo … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged on writing, writing career

Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 17, 2013 by Judith KitchenJuly 17, 2013

Applying her method of reading as a writer reads to Pam Houston’s Contents May Have Shifted, Judith Kitchen asks, “So is this memoir, masked as novel? Or novel, masked as memoir? That’s one of the first questions that a reader of this book asks. “What does it matter?” you might venture.   Here is our guest author’s explanation. Reading … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, reading for writing, Writing Fiction, writing memoir

Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 1

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 10, 2013 by Judith KitchenJuly 17, 2013

For our community read this past March 2013, the librarians in Port Townsend, where I live, chose Pam Houston’s novel Contents May Have Shifted, a story, they felt to be about love and freedom in middle age, something dear to the hearts of many in this community. At the top of the month the library … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged on writing, reading for writing, women's voices, Writing Fiction, writing memoir

The Practice of Productivity

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 3, 2013 by Priscilla LongJuly 3, 2013

This week, I am pleased to re-post an excerpt from writer Priscilla Long’s excellent text The Writer’s Portable Mentor: A Guide to Art, Craft, and the Writing Life. I heartily agree with the many readers who find the book one of the most accessible, thorough and useful writing guides they’ve read. We can all benefit … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged writing advice, writing inspiration, writing life

Interview with Memoirist Barbara McNally on The Writing of Unbridled: A Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 19, 2013 by Barbara McNallyJune 28, 2014

When otherwise good girl Barbara McNally is caught having an affair (for the second time), her marriage ends within weeks and with it, so does the image she created for her two teenaged girls and the man she married right out of college. In her book Unbridled: A Memoir, Barbara (whose website is here) begins … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013, Writers Building a Community of Readers | Tagged memoir, on writing, Publishing, writing advice, writing life, writing memoir

TIL – A Strategy for Travel Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 29, 2013 by Emily M. BenderMay 30, 2013

My daughter Emily took a trip with her husband, children, and parents-in-law to India, where her husband has many relatives. During the three-week trip, I was very happy to be able to follow her travels through photos and writing she shared on Facebook. Her Facebook posts took a form that made me think of William … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, WIR2013 | Tagged travel writing, Trusting Images, writing exercises

What I Learned When My Husband Died

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 21, 2013 by Nina AbneeMay 22, 2013

One way to help oneself heal from grief is to offer others honest lessons from experience. In this essay, included in the anthology On Our Own: Widowhood for Smarties, Nina Abnee has done so with generosity. “What I Learned When My Husband Died” is about Nina’s life and marriage, the end of her  husband’s life and how during those … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013, Writers Building a Community of Readers

Writing the Situations Life Throws Your Way – An Interview with Thelma Zirkelbach

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 1, 2013 by Sheila BenderMay 2, 2013

Former romance writer Thelma Zirkelback has two books out now (and a blog) on the subject of widowhood, one an anthology she co-edited of writings by women who have coped with their new life situation (On Our Own: Widowhood for Smarties) and the other a memoir about her interfaith marriage and and the loss of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013, Writers Building a Community of Readers | Tagged Informational Writing, memoir, personal essay, reading for writing, women's voices, writing advice, writing life

On Writing and Publishing Poetic Memoir, An Interview

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 17, 2013 by Nancy Smiler LevinsonApril 17, 2013

Nancy Smiler Levinson set herself the goal of writing about what she was living through during her husband’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. The result was a powerful, filled with love, and ultimately affirming memoir, all in free verse, Moments of Dawn: a poetic memoir of love & family, affliction & admiration.  A professional writer for decades, Nancy … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged memoir, Publishing, writing life, Writing Poetry

He’s Over Sixty and He’s a Rapper! Interview with Robert Komishane

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 3, 2013 by Robert KomishaneApril 4, 2013

Robert Komishane is a Port Townsend, WA poet who turned in middle age to rap and hiphop for inspiration when he wanted to switch from writing free verse to writing in form. Four and a half year’s later, he’s still having fun and gaining attention for his efforts. I interviewed Robert via email to learn … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged writing inspiration, Writing Poetry, writing rap

On Writing Memoir: Obsessions Digressions and Epiphanies

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 27, 2013 by Sandra HurtesMarch 27, 2013

Sandra Hurtes is the author of the essay collection, On My Way To Someplace Else and the chapbook RESCUE. Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Poets & Writers, among other publications. You can find links to her work and a link to her new blog, Chasing the Present Moment. … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged memoir, on writing, personal essay, Trusting Images, writing advice, writing life

An Interview with Playwright Mara Lathrop

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 20, 2013 by Mara LathropFebruary 1, 2015

Have you thought about writing for the stage or about reading plays as a way to understand the role of dialog in moving a story forward and keeping your writing “in scene”? If either is true for you, you will find playwright Mara Lathrop’s experience and the resources she shares invaluable. If you haven’t yet … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged playwrighting, playwriting, theater writing, writing advice, writing plays

Taking Chances

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 5, 2013 by Jack HeffronMarch 6, 2013

After years of writing, editing, publishing authors and teaching, Jack Heffron knows why we get stuck and how to work around that and back into our material. He’ll be teaching with Meg Files and Sheila Bender at our Writing It Real in Nashville April 25-28 conference. Join us for a chance to work with Jack as … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged Informational Writing, on writing, trust your writing, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction, writing memoir

A Children’s Book From the Heart: Interview with Penny Holland

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 6, 2013 by Penny HollandFebruary 6, 2013

Creating stories to delight children and help them understand sophisticated social concepts is a primary objective of children’s book authors. But it is often hard to cut to the essence of situations in language children understand. Penny Claire Holland had the story for a children’s picture book many years ago, but let her manuscript sit … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged children's book writing, trust your writing, writing advice, writing career, Writing Fiction

Excerpt from Meg Files Novel The Third Law of Motion

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 30, 2013 by Meg FilesJanuary 30, 2013

This excerpt is from Chapter 15 of The Third Law of Motion by Meg Files, published by Anaphora Literary Press, 2011, reprinted here by permission of the author. Lonnie had already started work as an inventory clerk in a new discount store just outside town, and we’d used the Christmas money from Dad for rent and … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2013 | Tagged fantasy fiction, women's voices, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction, Writing Scenes

The Third Law of Motion – An Interview with Meg Files

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 23, 2013 by Meg FilesMarch 6, 2013

This week’s interview is with my colleague Meg Files about her process for writing The Third Law of Motion, her newest novel and the book’s impact on its audience. You can study with Meg at our April Writing It Real conference in Nashville or our June Centrum Creative weekend intensive in Port Townsend, WA. Sheila Your … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged trust your writing, Writing Fiction, writing life, Writing Scenes

Talking Recklessly

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 16, 2013 by KimStaffordJanuary 16, 2013

 “Talking Recklessly” is excerpted by permission of the author, Kim Stafford, from his memoir 100 Tricks Any Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared published 2012 by Trinity University Press, San Antonio, TX. When we were young, our father had a habit of abruptly increasing the voltage by announcing, “Let’s talk recklessly!” This meant any … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2013 | Tagged Kim Stafford, memoir, personal essay

Interview with Poet and Memoirist Kim Stafford

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 9, 2013 by KimStaffordJanuary 15, 2013

Memoirs are high on my reading list. Memoirs that tell authors’ stories of grieving and healing are at the top. This week, I am posting an in-depth interview with writer Kim Stafford, whose brother committed suicide. As a writer, Kim sets out in his book 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do, A Memoir to explore … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2013 | Tagged Kim Stafford, memoir, on writing, writing advice, writing inspiration, writing life

Authornomics Interview with Sheila Bender

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 12, 2012 by Sheila BenderDecember 16, 2012

Authornomics is an author interview series created by Andrea Hurst and Associates agency. The August 16, 2012 interview I did for the series was chosen as one of their year’s best. The many good questions the agents there asked gave me the opportunity to discuss writing and the writing life in ways meaningful to me. … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2012 | Tagged agent, Publishing, writing career, writing life

Making a Book from Lists: An Interview with Adam Diament

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 14, 2012 by Adam DiamentDecember 17, 2012

On a recent teaching trip to Southern, CA, I visited with my college friend Cynthia. Among the many things we talked about was her oldest son’s new self-published book, The Top 10 Jewish… . She handed me a copy and from the first words of the introduction, I knew I wanted to learn more about … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012 | Tagged Informational Writing, on writing, reading for writing

Lasting Impressions – Excerpt from The Art and Craft of Storytelling

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 31, 2012 by Nancy LambDecember 17, 2012

Author Nancy Lamb has published two books on writing fiction with Writer’s Digest Books, The Art and Craft of Storytelling: A Comprehenisve Guide to Classic Writing Techniques, from which we present an excerpt this week, as well as The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. She is a master at explaining the elements of … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2012 | Tagged writing advice, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Fiction

More Than Your English Teacher Ever Told You

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 4, 2012 by Emily M. BenderOctober 5, 2012

When an irate reader wrote the editors of Writer’s Digest Magazine because of “incorrect” grammar I used in a poem, I was concerned.  I had written “my sister and I” after a verb:  “the ones my father gave my sister and I.”  The reader, a retired English teacher, said the magazine had certainly scraped the … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012

Interview with Suzan Huney on Her Book Women of Strength and Writing Oral History

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 22, 2012 by Suzan HuneyAugust 22, 2012

On August 27, 2010, Suzan Huney began an oral history project with her Aunt Betty Jane Cooper Johnson, her mother’s sister.  For many years, the tight knit clan of Cooper family women had celebrated during yearly reunions, but interviewing Aunt Betty meant learning a lot more about the family as well as more about her … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012

An Interview with Award Winning Young Adult Author Pete Hautman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 14, 2012 by Sheila BenderAugust 14, 2012

 This spring, I lead my town’s 8th graders in discussions about Pete Hautman’s young adult novel Blank Confession, a story based on the novel Shane, which is about a mysterious cowboy who changes the lives of a family while working on their ranch for only a short while. In Pete’s story, a boy arrives in … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012

For Those Who Want to Experience a Writing Retreat

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 27, 2012 by Susan RichJune 27, 2012

Susan Rich is a veteran of many writing retreats and served on the selection committee for Hedgebrook Writers’ Retreat. If you are interested in finding a writer’s retreat to spend some time away from home in an environment conducive to writing and sharing your work with other artists in residence, you’ll be interested in poet … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2012 | Tagged Writing Retreats

Writing Memoir and Poetry, Studying with Mentors and Peers: Interview with Anne McDuffie, Recent MFA Low Residency Program Graduate

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 20, 2012 by Anne McDuffieJune 20, 2012

Have you wondered about the value of MFA programs or wanted to learn what the MFA candidates learn? Here’s an opportunity to receive enrichment from a recent MFA candidate’s experience–Anne has offered loads of links to journals and writers you will want to know about. Sheila I am pleased by the opportunity to talk with … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2012 | Tagged literary journals, MFA Programs, on writing

In Conversation with Midge Raymond, Author of How to be an Everyday Writer: Tips and Prompts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 13, 2012 by Sheila BenderJune 13, 2012

This week author and publisher Midge Raymond, whose newest book is How to be an Everyday Writer: Tips and Prompts, offers us some of her quickie prompts and answers questions about her career and writing. Sheila Midge, you have succeeded in publishing collections of short stories and novels and you have wonderful nonfiction essays out there. You’re … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, WIR2012

Interview with Memoirist Shanti Elke Bannwart

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 30, 2012 by Shanti BannwartMarch 24, 2013

None of us know the full impact of our stories, only that we are compelled to write them. Shanti Elke Bannwart, author of Dancing On One Foot: Growing Up In Nazi Germany, says, “Creating art is dangerous. It strips you naked and stirs the deep waters of self-doubt; it pokes your nose into the gap … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012

How to Write (a book) — a wee rant

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 1, 2012 by Patti DighFebruary 27, 2012

Sometimes we need to be reminded that being a writer is about writing, first and foremost. As writers, we have to sit down and get our words on the page whether or not anyone has asked us to do so–and most often, not having been asked is the case.  We write to find out more … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2012 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, writing advice

Interview with Essayist Joni Cole

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 15, 2011 by Sheila BenderDecember 15, 2011

Joni Cole, author of Another Bad-Dog Book: Tales of Life, Love, and Neurotic Human Behavior, offers valuable information for writers in her recent interview for Writing It Real members. If you haven’t yet, you will want to read an excerpt from her book. Sheila How did you go about writing and collecting these essays? Joni … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

The Adventures of Super Joni! (And Her Amazing Dog E-Pie-Pie)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 1, 2011 by Joni ColeDecember 5, 2011

When Writing It Real contributor Joni Cole sent me a review copy of her new collection of essays Another Bad-Dog Book: Tales of Life, Love, and Neurotic Human Behavior, I was excited to get started reading. The book proved both funny, sometimes sidesplitting so, and poignant, especially when she writes about her elderly father. This week … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Literary Gallery, WIR2011

Turning Interests into Books

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 10, 2011 by Sheila BenderDecember 5, 2011

I enjoy exchanging information with those I meet, especially about books and writing. A summer day at the beach with my youngest grandson Rafe led to discovering an interesting writer and later to learning her writing and publishing story. My five-year-old grandson Rafe wanted to connect with two little girls he’d met at camp who … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2011

Writing with Feeling, Grounded By Place

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 3, 2011 by Margaret D. McGeeNovember 28, 2011

Our connections to the important places of our lives are deeply personal, based on unique experiences and relationships. At the same time, the feelings that bind us to those places can be shared and understood by most everyone because they are tied to universal human experiences and longings — to the comfort of home, the … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

An Interview with Personal Essayist Sandra Hurtes

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 27, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

Learning what keeps other writers on task with particular pieces that are difficult to finish affirms for me that as a writer, I must obey the call of the initial inspiration, even if obeying that call means sitting down again and again through draft after draft to find what I was meant to discover. It … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Why I Write: Essayist Sandra Hurtes’ Thoughts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 20, 2011 by Sandra HurtesNovember 28, 2011

Inspired by the “Why I Write” column in Poets and Writer’s magazine, essayist Sandra Hurtes examined her answer to that question, which is in the title of the following essay that appeared on October 9, 2011 in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Those of us who write, especially those of us who came late to allowing writing … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

How a Community Newspaper Works

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 25, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

Many of us who write from personal experience have ideas for columns and features appropriate, we think, for our local newspapers, but we may never have talked with a newspaper editor to find out what things look like from their side of the desk. I became acquainted with Kasia Pierzga, the Whidbey Examiner’s owner, publisher … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

From the Editors of Ashland, Oregon’s Ashland Creek Press

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 11, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

I belong to a book promotion group with fiction writer Midge Raymond, author of the short story collection Forgetting English. When she shared the link to a promotional video she and her husband, novelist John Yunker (The Tourist Trail), created, I clicked right over to their YouTube video called “Love in the Time of Amazon.” … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

The Road to Dove Creek

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 2, 2011 by Paula Marie CoomerNovember 28, 2011

Poet and fiction writer Paula Marie Coomer has written an essay about her road to becoming a writer and to publishing her work. Through her story, you will relate to the persistent internal voice (echoed by those who know your essence) that urges you on and makes you take your writing goals seriously—or that finally … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Thinking of Publishing? Know Your Distribution Channels

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 26, 2011 by Terry PersunNovember 28, 2011

Terry Persun, author of numerous technical articles, poetry books and novels, has published a guidebook that will help any of us who are working with small presses, self-publishing or working to support our book even though it is with a big publisher. Here is an excerpt from Guidebook for Working with Small Independent Publishers. For … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Interview with David Reich

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 19, 2011 by Sheila BenderOctober 23, 2011

When I was writing the fiction-writing chapter of Creative Writing Demystified, I called upon David Reich to review the chapters, helping me feel secure that I was sharing pertinent and useful information with the book’s readers. He took on the task of helping me examine tone in writing novels by generously offering first drafts and … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Seattle7 Writers: What’s That All About?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 28, 2011 by Kit BakkeDecember 5, 2011

The Seattle7 group of writers has garnered national attention for their work contributing to literary and literacy communities. The attention has resulted not only in strengthening alliances among the writers working together but also in valuable promotion for their books and writing careers. Seattle7 member Kit Bakke, who has contributed several articles to Writing It … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 1, 2011 by Margaret RozgaDecember 7, 2011

This first day of National Poetry Month, we share a letter from Milwaukee poet Margaret Rozga, whose son was deployed to Afghanistan and wounded there. The poems in her forthcoming poetry collection, Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad, concern her emotional response to her son’s active duty, the impact of the many stories she heard … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Recording Oral History

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 10, 2011 by Nancy RekowDecember 7, 2011

Writing oral histories is a project of the heart. An author is struck with a strong desire to write the life of another in that other’s words because they find something colorful, endearing and valuable about that person’s experiences. This kind of writing, which contains as little interference as possible from the author’s updated mind, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

A Free-Range Writer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 3, 2011 by Christi Killien GloverDecember 7, 2011

Twenty eleven is the Year of the Chicken around here. The chicken coop is finally finished. Just the fencing is left, and then we can bring some hens home. These will be free-range chickens, with both a fenced-in pasture and a 30’x30′ predator-proof pavilion. There will be no tiny cages for these gals. The girlfriends, … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Drywall in the Time of Grief

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 24, 2011 by JL OakleySeptember 28, 2022

As well as life lessons, Janet offers writing lessons in this well-crafted essay — about extended metaphor and about writing from what is happening in one’s life to find insight and resolution. That resolution might be a small or a … Continue reading →

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Letter Writing Exercise Keeps Relationship with Deceased Grandparents Alive

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

In 2007, we posted an interview with Allison Gilbert about her first book Always Too Soon: Voices of Support For Those Who Have Lost Both Parents, which is a collection of intimate interviews about the journey traveled by those whose parents have both died. This week, we are pleased to present an excerpt from her … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

The Pen and The Bell: Making Room to Write in a Crowded World

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 6, 2011 by Brenda MillerDecember 2, 2011

Brenda Miller and Holly J. Hughes, two skillful writers and past contributors to Writing It Real (be sure to click on their names to read their distinguished bios), have written a manuscript aimed at helping writers encourage and pay attention to their writing in the midst of commitments that squelch the meditative state required to … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, WIR2011

Interview with Bryan Cohen

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 23, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

An interesting email arrived one day recently — a young man from Chicago was hoping I’d take a look at 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More, his new e-book of prompts for writers. Having written many, many prompts myself, I was eager to see what he’d put together, and I … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2010

Working with the Espresso Book Machine

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 25, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

This year, I was introduced to the Espresso Book Machine at a Northwest bookstore and learned there were three of these machines in Western, WA, all of them not too far from where I live. Not too long after that, I met an author publishing his books locally by using one of them and giving … Continue reading →

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Writing from the Inside Out

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 4, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

[Early in her newest book, The Power of Memoir: How to Write Your Healing Story, Linda Joy Myers describes well our feelings as memoir writers: This scenario is a common one with memoir writers — the struggle between the desire to write and all the issues, conflicts and worries that come up at the very … Continue reading →

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Inside the Writing of A New Theology: Turning to Poetry In A Time of Grief

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 15, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

A few months ago, Writing it Real subscriber Leslie Wake suggested that she interview me about the writing of my memoir, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief. We began an email correspondence that resulted in the interview we are posting this week. I was honored to be asked to talk … Continue reading →

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Getting to First-Person Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 10, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Over the last few years, I have been getting to know retired Seattle Times journalist Ross Anderson and his wife, Mary Rothschild, a retired Seattle Times editor. Since moving from Seattle to Port Townsend, the couple has made many contributions to our town’s local newspaper, The Port Townsend Leader, and to writers and many others … Continue reading →

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Writing From Historic Journeys

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 3, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Career journalist, Ross Anderson, worked for over 30 years at the Seattle Times, covering everything from the police beat and courts to commercial fishing, though most of his time was spent writing about politics, serving as chief political writer, congressional correspondent and political columnist. Among other awards, he won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for national … Continue reading →

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Writing Gritty Characters

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 26, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Last week we posted an interview with Harmoni McGlothlin, writer and writing enthusiast, whose website is connecting writers and offering publishing opportunities. This week, she adds her viewpoint on writing strong characters to our fiction article archive by looking into the narrator in the film Fight Club based on a book by Chuck Palahniuk. If … Continue reading →

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Interview with Harmoni McGlothlin

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 20, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

After being asked to be a judge for a creative nonfiction contest at Notes & Grace Notes, an online site for writers, I read the editor’s mission statement and was impressed with the venue for writers seeking peer response and an audience: Our mission is to nourish new talent, reward excellence, and help writers achieve … Continue reading →

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Interview with Memoirist Melissa Hart

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 29, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Melissa Hart’s memoir Gringa: A Contradictory Childhood is the story of growing up between the polarity of her parents’ worldviews and the harsh judgment of a dominant culture and surviving. As reader, I was engaged in this tale from the beginning when Hart’s mother leaves her marriage to live in a lesbian relationship and full … Continue reading →

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Five Principles to Write By

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 24, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Author Joel M. Vance offers a tightly written essay on tips for writers — ones we shouldn’t forget when we are polishing our work and ones we should remember as we are focusing and developing it. Following the essay is writing by Joel that originally appeared in Wisconsin Trails. He says, “I cut the original … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Journaling to Wake Up Your Dream Machine

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

“We are all already poets in the depths of ourselves — as our image-filled and wildly imaginative dreams show us!” David Richo in Being True to Life When I collected journal entries from contemporary writers for The Writer’s Journal: 40 Contemporary Writers and their Journals, I learned how significant dreams can be for writers. Several … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Interview with Libertary.com

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 5, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

With the traditional publishing world in flux as publishing houses balance the cost of printing and advertising books against their sales numbers, more and more book loving entrepreneurs are finding ways to stay abreast of readers’ changing habits and bring the words of authors they admire to the public’s attention. To publish means, in its … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Finding One’s Way Through Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 21, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Betsy L. Howell, an only child, was 31 when both of her parents had died. She was drinking and upset with herself when she started to ask questions about her parents’ lives and read the family heirloom her father treasured — the diary of his great grandfather’s Civil War experience. Drawn in by the journals … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

2000 Words or 2:00

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 8, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Meg Waite Clayton’s novel, The Wednesday Sisters invites you in to the lives of five suburban young moms in the late sixties. Frankie, Linda, Brett, Ally, and Kath, want more from their lives than family and playgrounds can provide, yet they don’t even know what they are yearning for when they first bond over the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Pursuing the Dream of Publishing Personal Essays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 3, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

The following conversation with essayist Sandra Hurtes helps us all realize that we have it in us to pursue the dream of publishing our essays. We need to stick with it, listen to others, and find the publications that are seeking what we are writing about. Sheila Tell me about your writing career — how … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Conversation on Creating and Supporting an Anthology of Essays by Many Contributors

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 13, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Earlier this year, Writing It Real contributor Steven Winn wrote me that Barbara Graham, a former San Francisco Chronicle colleague of his, was publishing a collection of essays by women writers on grandmothering. He wondered if I would be interested in contacting her. Writing from the life experiences of becoming a grandparent, moving into a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Making Poetry From the Prose of Our Daily Lives

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 30, 2009 by Kathy LockwoodSeptember 17, 2013

I have recently completed one more semester of mentoring graduate student Kathy Lockwood in her Creative Writing program at Alaska Pacific University. Here is a third article from our series of exchanges about writing poetry. Just before Kathy sent this letter, she called me. She was frantic about getting back to writing poetry on time … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Learning from Kim Addonizio’s Ordinary Genius

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 9, 2009 by Kathy LockwoodOctober 30, 2011

As I continue to mentor Kathy Lockwood, who attends Alaska Pacific College in Anchorage, I grow and learn by considering her poems and her readings of the published poems she studies. Just as I did in April of this year (Working With Mentors Both Near and Far), I am publishing another of our exchanges for … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Indexing: Who Does It and How?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 2, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

I’ve been to your web page and read: ABOUT INDEXES Sheila Before I met you this winter, Katherine, I had never spoken to an indexer, not even the ones some of my publishers employed to make the indexes for my books. All I knew was that libraries are more likely to purchase nonfiction books with … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

An Interview with Linda C. Wisniewski

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 18, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

This week we present an interview with author Linda C. Wisniewski. Her book Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother & Her Polish Heritage accomplishes what many of us wish to accomplish when we are writing personal essays. Reviewer Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews explains it this way: Wisniewski conjures … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Getting Started Writing Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 14, 2009 by Sheila BenderJanuary 7, 2015

Ever since I started writing in earnest and working with other writers, I’ve been curious about why one chooses fiction for one story and non-fiction for another. Most of what I write is drawn from personal experience so for me it’s pretty simple — some stories need to be served straight up. That’s non-fiction. Others … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

On Writing Early Readers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 7, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Caroline Arnold has been a contributor to Writing It Real, and recently, she sent me an essay about how one of her early children’s books began as gardening observations with her children. We will be posting an excerpt from that book, Wiggle and Waggle, after our current exchange and refresher on the issues involved in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Elaine Partnow, Author, Actor, Playwright

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 16, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

I started out in life as an actress. Around my 32nd year, I was depressed. I had been getting great reviews on my theater performances in LA, but I was not getting hired for films. I had little parts in big movies and big parts in little movies, but not the work for which I … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Working with Mentors, Both Near and Far

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 2, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

This school term, I have been mentoring Kathy Lockwood, a student enrolled at Alaska Pacific University, where she is doing independent study in writing poetry. Very recently, she sent me an email with a letter attached describing her lack of writing at the moment and her deep disappointment with herself over her slow down. I … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Pep Talk and Tips on Submitting Screenplays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 19, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Chantelle Osman recently approached me about sharing information about her work as a screenwriter and producer with Writing It Real subscribers. Those of you interested in pursuing acceptance of screenplays for production will enjoy the hit of energy you’ll get from Chantelle’s energetic words. Her enthusiasm for the process and absolute trust in the ability … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

The Conversation Itself

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

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

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Sometimes Writing is a Matter of Memory and Resolve

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

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

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Confessions of a Writing Teacher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 29, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

[This article first appeared in Lizard, Victoria University’s Professional Writing and editing program’s magazine. The University is in Melbourne, Australia where Meg Files did a Doris Leadbetter Teacher Exchange between Pima College and VU’s Diploma Professional Writing and Editing. –ed] Writing is a lonely business, Ernest Hemingway said in his 1954 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Interview with Writer Katrina Hays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 1, 2009 by Katrina HaysOctober 23, 2011

I met Katrina Hays this past summer at Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writers’ Writing Workshop’s (RWW) graduation day discussions and ceremony. I was there to talk about how students in the graduate low-residency writing program could choose to work on Writing It Real articles to meet a required “outside experience.” Last year, Tarn Wilson from … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2009

Interview with Margaret D. McGee

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 25, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Shortly after reading Margaret D. McGee’s gentle, focused book Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice for Finding God in the Moment, I emailed her with some questions about her writing and about publishing in the spiritual genre. She graciously wrote back, and here is the content of the emailed conversation that developed: Sheila I enjoyed the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Interview with the Author of What I Thought I Knew

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 20, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

What I Thought I Knew is a gorgeous collection of life-, love- and spirit-affirming personal essays. In the preface to her book, Barbara Stahura says it this way: Sometimes, I wake up early in my grown-up bed, windows open around it, and hear the distant whistle of trains. It is then I remember that little … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Why Do You Write? How Do You Write? – Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 2, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

After Rodney Merrill received my answers to his questions about writing and my motivation to write, he sent me an interesting letter about his writing process and his knowledge of what those who study writers say. And he asked me more questions. I tried my best to answer the new questions. It isn’t often that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Why Do You Write? How Do You Write?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 25, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Last fall, doctoral candidate Rodney Merrill sent me a questionnaire about my approach to writing. He was surveying many writers while researching for his dissertation in the area of social constructionist views on writing. I was very taken with his inquiry and ideas and answered the questions. Soon, I interviewed Rodney so Writing It Real … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Thoughts on How to Structure an Essay Collection

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 11, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

When Judith Kitchen, who is Assistant Program Director of Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writing Workshop, suggested I might want to read a paper by graduating MFA student Hilary Schaper on organizing a collection of personal essays, I was delighted. I enjoyed reading the account of how Hilary studied the structure of such a collection. Believing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

An Interview with Nahid Rachlin, Part Two

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 17, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

[This week’s article continues the interview Sheila did with writer Nahid Rachlin for the May, 2008 AWP Chronicle. Part one Sheila What advice do you have for those writing from painful political and family backgrounds? Nahid My advice is that they should give themselves time to understand it all and not be in the state … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

An Interview with Nahid Rachlin

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 10, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

This article originally appeared in the AWP Chronicle, May, 2008 Nahid Rachlin has published four novels, Jumping Over Fire, (City Lights), Foreigner (W.W. Norton), Married to a Stranger (E.P.Dutton), The Heart’s Desire (City Lights), and a collection of short stories, Veils (City Lights). Penguin published her memoir Persian Girls in Fall, 2006. Her individual short … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Writing Wisdom Gleaned from an Olympic Ski Coach

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 19, 2008 by Tarn WilsonJune 11, 2014

When my sister came to visit me this spring, she brought along her boss, Rob Roy, a former Olympic ski coach who lives in Bend, Oregon where he hikes, skis, and develops green building and affordable housing for seniors. I was curious about what he had learned about fostering athletic excellence. As he talked, I … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

An Interview with Jay Bates, Host of A River & Sound Review

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 1, 2008 by Jay BatesJune 11, 2014

This year, I have had the delightful experience of working with Tarn Wilson, who is finishing up her MFA this spring from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainer Writing Workshop. Writing It Real subscribers have already benefited from her article on keeping a travel journal; this week, we benefit from her program’s network as she interviews classmate … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2008

Interview with Rodney L. Merrill

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 8, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Rodney L. Merrill contacted me for an interview about writing from personal experience. He explained that for his doctoral thesis, he is conducting a “research study on how skilled personal essay writers go about writing personal essays and how this process might be applied to improve the teaching of writing and writerly practice in the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Interview with Laura Fitzgerald

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 25, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Each year, I spend the month of February teaching writing in Tucson, AZ, and each year I learn about authors fostered by the ongoing program at Pima Community College. The following interview is with an author who credits the Wednesday night writing class she took at Pima while her kids were preschoolers for the start … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Floating Bridge Press: Poetry From the Upper Left Hand Corner

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 6, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

This summer, Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writer’s Conference faculty member, Susan Rich suggested we do an article on Floating Bridge Press, a community-based nonprofit, of which she is a member, that has published 17 books of poetry and almost a decade’s worth of the annual poetry anthology Pontoon. I am pleased this week … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Self-Publishing Books on Grief, Part Two

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 19, 2007 by Sheila BenderMarch 30, 2023

This week, as we continue our series of interviews with authors who have self-published, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sam Turner about This Might Help, the book he and his wife Phyllis put together. Like author Janice Urie, who we interviewed last week, Sam and Phyllis have experience with the grief of losing a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Self-Publishing Books on Grief, Part One

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 12, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

There are a lot of small-world stories in the writing world. Here’s one of mine: In 2000, I was asked by Writer’s Digest Books to judge personal essays. From over 3500 essays, for first place, I chose an essay by Janice Urie about the death of her 13-year-old son, Sean. For me, Janice’s writing was … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Writing from the Experience of a Career that Stumbled

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 5, 2007 by Adina SaraDecember 11, 2011

This week, we have the second in our series of interviews with writers who have self-published. Each of these writers reports on the successful experience they have had. Adina Sara published her collection of poems and personal essays about being a legal secretary–her view into the work world and the world of those who work … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

On Self-publishing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 28, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

This week we begin a series on self-publishing, the outgrowth of interviews I’ve been doing with authors who have taken a variety of routes toward self-publishing. Cindy La Ferle and other authors have shared details from their publishing experiences in interviews as well as excerpts from their books, both of which I will be publishing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Recognizing Fragmentary Writing as a Genre

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 7, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

  Sheila Olivia, I was introduced to your press when one of your authors, Sandi Sonnenfeld, asked me to write a blurb about her book, This Is How I Speak, which is a memoir in diary form. I have been intrigued ever since with your idea of committing your press to publishing what you call … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Research and Writers’ Advice Support Keeping a Journal

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 16, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Lifetime journal keeper Ruth Folit combined her passion for journal keeping with her technological experience to create LifeJournal, a software program to help those who journal using their keyboards and computers. It wasn’t too long before she decided to create what she calls flavors to the product. One of them is LifeJournal for Writers, for … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

The Seed of the Human Heart: Writing Tanka

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 12, 2007 by Michael WelchSeptember 9, 2022

Editor’s Note — To read some of Michael Dylan Welch’s Tanka poetry, click here You’ve heard of haiku, but did you know that it’s a spring chicken compared with another genre of short Japanese poetry? The rich heritage of this poetry stretches back more than a thousand years longer than haiku. Indeed, the poetic grand … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

An Interview with Author and Law Professor Martha Grace Duncan

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 22, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

I met Martha Grace Duncan and became aware of her work when she made a research trip to Seattle for a personal essay she was writing about her stepmother. When I first learned she’d come to research for a personal essay, I immediately admired her commitment– many people believe only novels and other book length … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Interview with Author and Editor Allison Gilbert

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 22, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Always Too Soon: Voices of Support For Those Who Have Lost Both Parents is a collection of intimate interviews about the journey traveled by those whose parents have both died. Some of the book’s contributors are famous (Rosanne Cash, Ice-T, Geraldine Ferraro, Mariel Hemingway) and others are not, but all have important perceptions to share … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Linguistics, Anybody?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 25, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Writers are tuned into the language that people use. Most of us feel that the everyday language of the people we listen to is rich and colorful and important, even if it doesn’t stick to what our teachers taught us.  Luckily, linguists are on our side with their delight in documenting how living languages evolve. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2007

Celebrating Lyric Poetry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 28, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Stan Sanvel Rubin’s third collection of poems, Hidden Sequel, the winner of the 2006 Barrow Street Poetry Prize, contains this opening epigraph: No, my heart is not sleeping, It is awake. Awake.” –Machado Right from the start, in the beat between two awakes, we are roused as if by a hypnotist who is letting us … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Sailing the High Seas of the Publishing World

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 14, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Caroline Arnold graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa where she majored in art. After graduate school at the University of Iowa, she worked as an artist and art teacher for a number of years. Her writing career began in the late winter of 1976. She was living in an old farmhouse in upstate New York. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Community and the Work of the Poet

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 7, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

At this past summer’s Writing It Real in Port Townsend writer’s conference, Susan Rich spoke to the conference group about building a writer’s community and finding a place in the world based on one’s passion for poetry. This week, I’ve interviewed her about the development of her books of poems and the ways in which … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Dealing with Toxic Feedback

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 3, 2006 by Joni ColeDecember 5, 2011

Last week, we shared a chapter from Joni Cole’s book, Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive, published in 2006 by University Press of New England, Hanover, New Hampshire. This week, I talk with Joni about writing the book. Sheila Joni, I have read Toxic Feedback with great interest. You have written an informative and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Teens Have Gifts to Offer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 7, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

A few months ago, I received an email request to help spread the word about Scrap Paper Press’s worldwide call for creative writing submissions from teens. I went to the project’s website, was impressed with the effort, and posted the submissions-wanted information on the Writing It Real community page. I also enthusiastically emailed my teacher … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Interview with Joan Weimer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 27, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Joan Weimer’s second memoir, Awestruck: A Skeptic’s Pilgrimage, just out this year, opens with a dramatic prologue: The plane is so near the ground I can make out individual palm trees, their fronds whipped into a frenzy by a tremendous wind. Wet red tiles on the roofs are close enough to count. Abruptly the left … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

The Freelance Writer’s Bible by David Trottier

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 29, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

A lot of books claim they can help authors who are in a hurry to get paid for their writing. This one is enthusiastically subtitled Your Guide to a Profitable Writing Career Within One Year, and it certainly does include supportive, direct information a freelancer needs to achieve such a goal. Author David Trottier has … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Writing About Family: Is It Worth It?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 25, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

This article originally appeared in The Writer’s Chronicle, October/November 2001 I made up my mind at the beginning of my writing life not to write about my family and friends, since I want them to remain my family and friends. –Novelist Carol Shields Write what you know!” is the advice given freely to writers not … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Q & A with Memoirist Mimi Schwartz

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 18, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

This week’s article begins with an excerpt from Mimi Schwartz’s memoir, Thoughts from a Queen-Sized Bed. Entitled “Jimmy and June, ” this second essay in the collection illustrates the way Mimi Schwartz writes about ordinary life to “get it just right,” a phrase her husband used describing his reaction when he first read it at … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

An Interview with Sondra Perl Followed by an Exercise for Memoir Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 11, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Sheila Last week, in Writing It Real, I shared a section of your memoir, On Austrian Soil: Teaching Those I Was Taught to Hate with readers. I think the section we posted demonstrates the way your memoir developed from a turning point in your relationship to the teachers with whom you were working. I’d like … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Becoming a Haiku Poet

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 13, 2006 by Michael WelchMarch 26, 2014

Last week, you read Michael Welch’s instruction on writing haiku. This week you’ll learn more about haiku and publishing from a transcript of my email interview with him. It includes the treat of some of Michael’s poems at the end as well as links to more of his writing and several sites of interest. Sheila … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006, WIR2014

Four Writers on Writing, Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 9, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

We pick up where the email thread left off last week. Sheila starts: I wanted to respond to what Lisa said: “And I wanted to raise this idea about how writing has repercussions that go far beyond whether you are published or not,” What we spend our days writing affects us in many ways. If … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Four Writers on Writing, Publishing and How Their Careers Are Shaping Up

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 2, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

In the fall, I consulted with freelance, technical and creative writer, Michelle Goodman about publishing with regional presses. By way of thank you, she arranged for two other writers to join her in an email conversation with me about themselves, their writing, and their publishing. We all benefited from the conversation, and I share it … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

SELF-Esteem and the SELF-Published Author

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 9, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Hannah Goodman is the author of My Sister’s Wedding, a young adult novel that addresses the effects of alcoholism on individuals, friends and families. She self-published it in 2004 (a sample chapter appears in the WIR Gallery) and now often presents lectures on self-publishing and shares the steps involved, the pitfalls and how to avoid … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

A Day in the Life of a Writer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 26, 2006 by Jack HeffronDecember 5, 2011

Jack Heffron’s simple, masterful writing prompt will have you realizing how much content you have to write about in no time–well, in the time it takes to live a day and read the notes you put on paper. Taking notes in the way Jack suggests plus the bit of Fitzgerald he includes to show you … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Poems, Pastries and Politics

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 12, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Why connect the writing of poetry with an appreciation of good food? On first consideration, the juxtaposition of poems and pastries might seem frivolous. Isn’t poetry sustenance for something more than the physical body? Recently, I taught a workshop at a local college advertised as “O Taste and Write: Food Poems,” and perhaps a subtext … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Ten Signs of a Scam Book Doctor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 5, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Long time professional editor, Jerry Gross developed a widely used code of ethics for editors and book doctors. Here are his 10 points to consider when evaluating someone to work with you on your manuscript. Ten Signs Of A Scam Book Doctor by Jerry Gross Working with an expert, ethical book doctor can often make … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, From Our Contributors, WIR2006

Getting Your Writing Past Contest Screening Judges

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 23, 2005 by Kurt VanderSluisNovember 24, 2013

About seven years ago, Sheila agreed to judge a personal essay contest for a writing magazine. Her task was to choose and rank the ten top essays among the submissions. Told to expect about 1,000 essays, she was surprised when 3,500 showed up at our door with only three weeks to choose the winners. I … Continue reading →

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Posted in From Our Contributors, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged on writing, personal essays, writing advice

Magical Realism at Your Finger Tips

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 3, 2005 by Tamara SellmanOctober 26, 2011

When he was a boy she was always painting the ceiling of his room. Once she painted it blue for a sky with lazy white clouds and faint daytime stars. And in one corner, as if just disappearing into his closet, the tip of an angel’s wing. “It could be only a bird’s wing,” she … Continue reading →

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A Conversation Between Memoirist Beverly Donofrio and Novelist Kaylie Jones

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 15, 2005 by Kaylie JonesSeptember 25, 2011

In February 2005, old friends, novelist Kaylie Jones and memoirist Beverly Donofrio reunited to teach together in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. In the months before the workshops, they conversed with one another about their respective genres and the experience of having movies made of their books. The following is the transcript of that conversation … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Young Adult Novelist Hannah R. Goodman

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 18, 2005 by Hannah R. GoodmanSeptember 25, 2011

Earlier this year, Hannah R. Goodman emailed me about her book, My Sister’s Wedding, a young adult novel she published in 2004 that addresses the effects of alcoholism on individuals, friends and families and asked me if I would like a copy. The topic was on my mind as I had only recently spoken to … Continue reading →

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Describing How We Behave When Life Deals a Blow

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 14, 2005 by Steven WinnOctober 26, 2011

Steven Winn, columnist and critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and past contributor to Writing It Real, tells a good story about a series of articles he wrote that were extremely popular. He was eating lunch with one of his newspaper’s editors and telling her about Como, the one-year-old rescue dog his family had adopted, … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Jack Heffron

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 19, 2005 by Jack HeffronDecember 5, 2011

Jack Heffron was my editor at Writer’s Digest Books for almost a decade, and we have been teaching colleagues for going on six years now.I still have the editorial letter he wrote to me after he’d read Writing Personal Essays:How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page, my second book on writing and the … Continue reading →

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On A Condition of the Spirit: The Life and Work of Larry Levis

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 14, 2005 by Sheila BenderDecember 16, 2011

A few years back, I received an email from Christopher Buckley requesting permission to reprint a review I’d written in an anthology of work by and about the late poet Larry Levis. I was thrilled to share what I’d written many years earlier for Poet Lore, a literary magazine in the Washington DC area. I’d … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Humorist Judy Gruen

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 20, 2005 by Judy GruenSeptember 26, 2011

I have been enjoying humor writer Judy Gruen’s essays since she published her first collection of them, Carpool Tunnel Syndrome: Motherhood as Shuttle Diplomacy, and began an Internet newsletter to deliver her humorous column, Off My Noodle, to a wide audience. She has since written a second book entitled, Till We Eat Again: Confessions of … Continue reading →

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A Read Through Judith Kitchen’s Work

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 30, 2004 by Judith KitchenOctober 27, 2011

After reading In Short and In Brief, two anthologies of short personal essays co-edited by author Judith Kitchen, I re-read her collected essays in Only the Dance and Distance and Direction, and then her novel The House on Eccles Road. As I went to my bookshelf, I plucked Distance and Direction down first and returned … Continue reading →

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Insights into Endings – Part 2

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 16, 2004 by Judith KitchenOctober 27, 2011

After reading essayist and editor Judith Kitchen’s observations about effective essay endings for last week’s article, I turned to In Brief, the second of two creative nonfiction anthologies Kitchen co-edited with Mary Paumier Jones and published with W.W. Norton. In the introduction to this 1999 volume, Kitchen and Jones write that in addition to an … Continue reading →

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Insights into Endings

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 9, 2004 by Judith KitchenSeptember 27, 2011

In “Endings,” an instructional essay for the literary journal Fourth Genre, Fall, 2001, Judith Kitchen asserts that in a piece of creative nonfiction, “the building of thought is what interests the reader.” “We look as much for how an author approaches a subject,” she writes, “as for the subject itself.” In reading and writing essays, … Continue reading →

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Just My Two Cents Worth

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 16, 2004 by Jack GrapesOctober 27, 2011

Having been a student of Jack Grapes, I am privileged to be on his email list and receive messages about reading and activities that inspire thoughts about the nature of writing.  In a recent email from Jack about authenticity in writing, I read this opening question, “If you can’t do it in the journal, what … Continue reading →

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A Conversation with writer Barbara Sjoholm

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 26, 2004 by Barbara SjoholmMay 31, 2015

This past spring, The Seattle Times ran a review of Barbara Sjoholm”s new book The Pirate Queen:  In Search of Grace O”Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea.  The review opens: If Janet Forsyth lived in the here and now, instead of 17th-century Scotland, she would be on the front page across the country. … Continue reading →

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Email Conversation with Poet and Non Fiction Author Tim McNulty

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 12, 2004 by Tim McNultyOctober 1, 2011

This March, I attended the first annual Burning Word Festival on Whidbey Island, a 30-minute ferry ride from my home, for a day devoted to listening to poetry and instruction by Washington State practitioners.  On the way over to the island on a very early ferry, I watched high school students in brightly colored sports … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Book Lust author Nancy Pearl (the Most Avid Reader Anyone Knows)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 24, 2004 by Nancy PearlOctober 1, 2011

After years of spreading the word far and wide about reading and drumming up interest in books and literature, Nancy Pearl, the Seattle Library’s Director of Programming and Director for the Washington Center for the Book, has a new book out herself.  It’s entitled Book Lust:  Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason.  At … Continue reading →

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A Conversation with David Horowitz, Poet and Publisher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 20, 2004 by Sheila BenderOctober 1, 2011

This spring, I met publisher and poet David D. Horowitz, who was selling books from his Rose Alley Press, at the Redmond, Washington Poets in the Park Conference.  As I browsed the press’s well-designed, handsome books, David asked if he could read me a poem from one.  “Of course,” I said, and he read from … Continue reading →

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Prompts to Make Shapely, Focused Stories (and Essays)

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 6, 2004 by Jack HeffronDecember 5, 2011

Writers often use prompts to help them come up with original ways of opening and organizing their work.  Whenever I dip into The Writer’s Idea Book and The Writer’s Idea Workshop by Jack Heffron, I find help for inventing and shaping ideas that I want to grow into finished pieces.  Here are some words from … Continue reading →

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On Poetry Collaboration

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 1, 2004 by James BertolinoOctober 1, 2011

Editor’s Note: All the poems printed in this article are a collaboration of the two authors, James Bertolino and Anita K. Boyle. “Hard Candy” first appeared in the print journal Cranky, No. 1, 2004 as did James Bertolino’s instructional essay on poetic collaboration;  “One Day” appeared in StringTown, No.6, 2003 and “On Edge” appeared in … Continue reading →

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One Author’s Road to Creating Intimate Non-Fiction

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 5, 2004 by Susan K. Perry PhDOctober 1, 2011

This week’s article is an interview with author Susan K. Perry, Ph.D.  Her latest book is Loving in Flow: How the Happiest Couples Get & Stay That Way.  Susan makes good use of her personal experience in a second marriage as well as the experience of other couples to help her readers understand how they … Continue reading →

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There’s Help Out There for Building a Writing Life You Love

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 29, 2004 by Barbara Caplan-BennettOctober 2, 2011

While I was living in Los Angeles these past several years, I was lucky enough to meet Barbara Caplan-Bennett, a fellow member of the Independent Writers of Southern California.  A novelist and trained action coach, Barbara is a person who helps writers redesign their approach to life so they can write. Here’s how she writes … Continue reading →

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Working with a Writing Mentor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 20, 2003 by Janice EidusMay 13, 2018

As a writing instructor, it is always interesting to me to talk with other writers who teach.  I enjoy hearing about the parts of the teaching process that excite them.  This past June, I had the opportunity to talk over breakfast with New York writer Janice Eidus.  She said: When I guide writers in their … Continue reading →

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Jerome Gold of Black Heron Press on Independent Publishing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 23, 2003 by Jerome GoldOctober 2, 2011

Every Labor Day Weekend at the Bumbershoot Arts Festival held at Seattle Center, Jerome (Jerry to his friends) Gold mans a Black Heron Press booth at the festival’s book fair.  In April of each year, he mans the booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and also at the May Book Expo America … Continue reading →

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Memoirist Joelle Fraser Talks About Her Process

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 9, 2003 by Joelle FraserOctober 2, 2011

I met Joelle Fraser at the 2003 Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference, where we both presented.  Her book The Territory of Men intrigued me.  Sherman Alexie (author of The Toughest Indian in the World), and Beverly Donofrio (author of Riding in Cars with Boys) both blurbed the book saying it is written with honesty and is … Continue reading →

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Advice from the Book Doctor

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 18, 2003 by Robyn ConleyOctober 2, 2011

Robyn Conley and I met at a time when we both had books on journaling newly out from Walking Stick Press.  Robyn’s role at the Society of Southwestern Authors‘ conference we taught at involved individual editing sessions with conference participants.  Her skills as a book doctor involve sentence editing for grammar and punctuation as well … Continue reading →

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Writing Children’s Books: Not as Easy as A B C

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 4, 2003 by Nancy Smiler LevinsonOctober 2, 2011

Those of us who write from personal experience often think that we’d like to share life lessons and delights in the form of literature for children.  Excited by our desire to write, we also feel in touch with the child in ourselves who loves learning and has a need to know.   But when it comes … Continue reading →

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Australian Poet Doris Leadbetter tells us about Mrs. Arthur P. Craven

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 28, 2003 by Doris LeadbetterOctober 2, 2011

I have been in correspondence with a grand dame of Australian Poetry.  I met Doris Leadbetter in 2002, when she and her husband Richard spent their winter holiday (our summertime) away from Melbourne attending writers’ conferences in the US and visiting Richard’s home state of Montana.  All of us at the Colorado Mt. Writers’ Workshop … Continue reading →

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An Email Exchange with Amy Holman, Director of Poets and Writers Publishing Workshops

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 24, 2003 by Amy HolmanOctober 2, 2011

As the creator and director of Poets & Writers’ Publishing Seminars Program, Amy Holman addresses the needs of writers (including herself).  She teaches writers what they need to know about matching their work with the right editors and agents.  In a recent email interview, Amy described the goals and successes of the publishing seminars program.  … Continue reading →

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Lessons from Years of Facilitating Personal Essay Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 19, 2003 by SusanBonoOctober 4, 2011

A couple of years ago, I began receiving Tiny Lights, a publication out of Northern California that is dedicated to the personal essay.  I was struck by the caliber of the essays in each issue and contacted the publisher of the journal to find out more about her publishing vision and dedication to the genre.  … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Writer’s Boot Camp Program Director, Robert Morgan Fisher

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 22, 2003 by Sheila BenderOctober 4, 2011

I had lunch recently with novelist and screenwriter Robert Morgan Fisher, who supervises the online screenwriting program at Writer’s Boot Camp (WBC) in Santa Monica, CA.  His first novel, called Set the Poem Free, won 2nd place in the 2000 Publishing Online North American Fiction Open.  He was awarded $5,000 and briefly published online.  The … Continue reading →

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Research and Creative Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on May 1, 2003 by Sheila BenderOctober 4, 2011

Novelist and poet Meg Files recently spoke on a panel at the Associated Writing Program’s annual meeting.  She talked about researching for writing her novels. After her talk, Meg and I conducted an email interview about how her research affects her writing, her imagination, and her teaching. What research did you do for your first … Continue reading →

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An Email Chat with Sebastian Matthews, Founding Editor of Rivendell

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 10, 2003 by Sheila BenderOctober 4, 2011

As I prepare the following interview with Sebastian Matthews, I’m thinking of an encounter I had at a workshop I co-taught for teachers early this spring at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District.  An administrator for the Peer Assistance program smiled broadly after hugging one of the attending teachers hello. She turned … Continue reading →

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Janice Eidus’ Correspondence, Part Two

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 27, 2003 by Sheila BenderOctober 4, 2011

After our initial correspondence, posted on 12/12/02, author Janice Eidus answered some more questions I posed based on what she’d written to me.  I am delighted to share the continuation of our correspondence this week: When you do decide to write an essay, are you exploring issues that are the same or different than the … Continue reading →

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Correspondence with Fiction Writer Janice Eidus

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 12, 2002 by Janice EidusOctober 17, 2011

This fall I corresponded with novelist and short fiction writer Janice Eidus to investigate how fiction writers use personal experience in their writing.  I have admired Eidus’ fiction and her teaching for many years now and in 1997, I invited her to contribute to my book, The Writer’s Journal: 40 Writers and Their Journals, published … Continue reading →

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More Than Your English Teacher Ever Told You – Part II

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 14, 2002 by Sheila BenderOctober 29, 2011

I’ve been editing essays this fall for professionals who are applying to graduate school programs. As always, I am pointing out passive voice constructions and instructing the applicants on how to make them active constructions, and I’m also pointing out dangling modifiers and suggesting alternative wording. I know from looking at my own drafts and … Continue reading →

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