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Category Archives: Instructional Exercises

Nowhere But Up from Here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Write Grief, then Protest and Take Action

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

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

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

Writing Oral History and Beyond to Personal Essay

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

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

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

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

Your Writing Is Your Worthy Friend

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

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

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2019

Writing Between Paragraphs An Essay Forms

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

This week, wanting so much to write on the day that would have been my son’s 44th birthday, but not knowing how to put my heart-filled words on the page, I reread “Canoe” by Sherrie Flick, a story in 446 words about a daughter grieving her father. Those words ultimately inspired an essay for me … Continue reading →

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

Writing the Emotionally Important Scenes

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

A Princeton professor I once read while for some reason I had no pen or device to record his name and the name of the article wrote that when we read a novel we are speeding up time as one book can contain may days, months, and years. But when we write, he said, we … Continue reading →

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

Writing in Letter Form (Epistolary Writing) Keeps You Going

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

I am reposting an article form the 2012 archives with exercises for using the epistolary form to stay inspired and to keep writing. I had been a reader of letters to Ann Landers and other newspaper columnists to whom the public wrote well into my teens. Even after my own children were grown, I continued … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019 | Tagged writing exercises

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

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

Emma Lazarus’ 1893 sonnet engraved on a plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty has been made famous again this week. The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019, Writing Makes a Difference

Tattle Phone, a Writing Exercise

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

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

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

We All Have Opinions: The Argument and Persuasion Essay

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

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

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

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

Writing to Explore Influence and Admiration, Part 2

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

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

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

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2019

Writing to Explore Influence and Admiration, Part 1

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

Writing a litany of praise for anyone to whom you owe gratitude for life lessons will work in interesting ways if you take on the seemingly unpraiseworthy as if it were praiseworthy. You will get interesting results that push your writing past easy sentimentality or blinding anger to the important waters of insight. Praising What … Continue reading →

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

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

Learning from Others’ Pieces Written in the Second Person

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

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

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

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

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

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

[The following article in honor of National Poetry Month appeared in slightly different form in March of 2003.] John Keats created the term “negative capability,” the idea that a poem holds within it one thing as well as its opposite. For example, when we eulogize someone’s death, we also celebrate their life. When we ache … Continue reading →

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

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

Flash! It’s a Great Form to Practice!

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

What is flash writing and why do authors like to write flash pieces? It’s quicker to write than a novel or memoir. It’s a challenge to see how much you can say with a short word limit, up 500 to 1500 or under 300 for microfiction (6 words, 50 words, 101 words, 150 words, 250 … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Joke and a Limerick: Two Kernels for Good Writing

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

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

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

I Can’t Get Enough of Flash Memoir!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, as I waited for election returns, I thought of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl,” written in 1955, so full of despair at what he had seen around him. I wondered what I would howl when I found out whether or not Democrats had gained a majority in the House of Representatives and, therefore, become able … Continue reading →

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

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

A Gander at Propaganda

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

“The Institute for Propaganda Analysis: Protecting Democracy in Pre-World War II America,” an article authored by Zachary Reisch and kept in the Bryn Mawr Institutional Library, offers clarification about the exploration of propaganda in our country. “What is democracy?” Reisch asks and he goes on: This is the question that liberals in late 1930s America … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

For the past month, I have been teaching an online class in writing in the flash subgenre. Last Saturday, I taught an all-day in-person seminar on the genre. So, this week, I am sharing some of my lesson ideas and links to model flash pieces, which I hope will encourage you to try your hand … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

  …the heart…and the learned skills of the conscious mind… make appointments with each other, and keep them, and something begins to happen. Mary Oliver A Poetry Handbook Whether you are someone who sets out to write poems, essays, stories or articles or keeps journals, the thinking and analogy I make in this excerpt from … Continue reading →

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

Double Issue: Writing Exercises to Inspire You to Write

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

Here is a collection of writing ideas to keep you going for days as our schedules start to fill with fall commitments and shorter daylight. Let the Seasons’ Personas Inspire You to Write It’s the change of seasons now. Some of us feel crisp, chilly air as September wanes. Others of us may find other … Continue reading →

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

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

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

As I update an earlier book of mine, A Year in the Life: Journaling for Self-Discovery, I will be sharing some of my favorite writing exercises with you over the next few weeks. Here’s the first of several lessons I am enjoying revisiting: A Lesson From Morrie and Rilke Many of us have read Tuesdays … Continue reading →

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

On Labor Day: What Writers Might Celebrate About Their Vocation

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

The first Labor Day was celebrated by some on September 5, 1882, when Knights of Labor leader Peter J. McGuire requested that the first Monday in September be a day of rest for American workers. A parade in New York City’s Union Square honored the working people of America. Thousands took the day off to … Continue reading →

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

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

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

August is the Gregorian calendar month named after the Roman Augustus Caesar, the man responsible for spreading the Roman Empire over the earth. He wrote about his great accomplishments, writings some think of as the typical age-old boastings of a politician. However, others wrote after his death that upon innumerable occasions he donated money to … Continue reading →

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

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

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

I am so enjoying reading Patricia Hampl’s The Art of the Wasted Day. Early in the book, page 18, she records one of her many to-do lists. She says first that she admires Montaigne, know as the father of the personal essay, for his ability to be rather than strive. He didn’t think of himself … Continue reading →

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

An Approach to Writing Flash Nonfiction

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

Flash prose, sometimes called flash literature, is creative writing between 500 and 1500 words. This term includes further subgenres prose poetry, short essays and vignettes. Like the longer essay, or something now called short memoir, the flash personal essay evokes experience and arrives at discovery through the writer’s telling. Because it is short, it maintains a firm focus … Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender Offers Tools for Writers on Breaking Their Silence

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

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

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

Enliven Your Fiction or Memoir by Weaving Complications into Your Story

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

Here is an article, originally posted in 2003 that deserves our writing attention again. In The Writer’s Idea Workshop, author Jack Heffron sets himself the task of letting his readers know what to do after a first draft is on the page.  In his manuscript, he writes: As we move deeper into the project we’re developing, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018

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

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

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

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

Recipes for Living Our Lives

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

We all have favorite recipes we’ve used for food preparation and sets of instructions we have followed to succeed in putting something together. What recipes or instruction sets might we write up concerning what we have learned in negotiating other aspects of our lives: instructions for facing disaster, surviving loss, or failure? What would we … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2018

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

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

[This article appeared in slightly different form in 2014 — ed.] As writers, our ears are tuned for measuring the quality of the words we hear around us. Sometimes, our ears catch speech we think is pure poetry or could be if read that way. We find that with a little rearranging these words express more humor, more … Continue reading →

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

The Flash Sequence: A Form for Saying the Unsayable

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

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

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

A Writing Exercise to Help You Arrive at Deep Material

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

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

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

Writers’ Strategies, Questions, And a Writing Exercise

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

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

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

Cider Mills and Burning Leaves: Writing Fall

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

For us in northern states, fall brings shorter daylight, leaves to rake and cider mills to visit where we sip fresh apple cider and eat sweet doughnuts. We fill a nip in the air. In warm climates, fall begins the season of visitors with full hotels, gift shops and restaurants. Around the country Thanksgiving dinners … Continue reading →

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

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

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

Years ago one of my writing students wrote this line in class, “Ms. Failure paints her self-portrait, then hangs it on a wall in your world without asking permission.” He was speaking, he told us, of a time when he was “not facing the realities of the world.” His imagined self-portrait both set him straight … Continue reading →

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

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

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

In his book Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore writes about a client he saw in counseling who was having problems with food and dreamt that her esophagus was made of plastic and wasn’t reaching her stomach. Moore says: The esophagus is an excellent image of one of the soul’s chief functions: to transfer material … Continue reading →

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

What is Epistolary Writing? Why Write in Epistolary Form?

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

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

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

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

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

In All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum writes about hiding in a pile of leaves in his front yard and not being found by the game’s seeker. He likens this hiding-too-well as a kid to a doctor who was dying of cancer but never told anybody because he didn’t … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged writing exercises

Writing as a Walker in the City (Or Anywhere)

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

Writers write. That’s the definition. And sometimes, we-who-write feel cranky and rebellious toward our job. That can lead to not writing and then to becoming upset with ourselves for not writing, for not being writers. For the prompts I share this week, I’ve taken inspiration from Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”  and from the poet … Continue reading →

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

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

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

For this video lesson, I have selected three passages from a memoir I love and admire, Tarn Wilson’s The Slow Farm.  I discuss them as a lesson on using details and sensory information to evoke the point-of-view of a memoir’s protagonist–the writer’s. Here Tarn is using her point-of-view as young a child. We learn at … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2017

Writing Poetry for a Clearer, More Centered Self

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

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

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

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

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

It may seem hard to imagine how to write a life in short pieces rather than with a more traditional narrative arc, but it works. Here are excerpts from memoirs-made-of-pieces that I like very much: Excerpts from Abigail Thomas’ What Comes Next and How to Like It. Excerpt from Kim Stafford’s 100 Tricks Any Boy Can Do: … Continue reading →

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

A Three-Part Study Guide to Writing Short Memoir

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

Part One To get a feel for short memoir, you might enjoy reading from Writers’ Digest magazine’s column called “5-Minute Memoir.”  Here are links to a few of the columns: Writing from the Mat Hidden in Plain Sight The Beauty of Bones Here is a column I wrote for the October 2012 issue: Writing Grief … Continue reading →

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

Admiring and Learning from Flash Writing by Jim Heynen

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

I have been an eager reader of flash stories by Jim Heynen for years. I’ve read The Man Who Kept Cigars Under His Cap, One-Room School House: Stories About the Boys, The Boy’s House: New and Selected Stories as well as his newest collection Ordinary Sins: Stories. You can visit this web page to view … Continue reading →

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

A Useful Review for Employing the Five Senses in Writing Scenes

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

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

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

Finding the Motto Writer Within

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

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

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

Burying the Dutch Oven: A Writing Exercise for Discovery

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

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

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

Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 3

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

Mining the Three Freewrites: Whether you have done these freewrites ( see Part 1 and Part 2) ?in the course of one writing session or over several days, find out what the freewrites have to tell you about an essay you might write by combing through them and jotting down images and phrases that interest … Continue reading →

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

Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 2

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

[The following article appeared first in “The Heart and Craft and of Life Writing.”] Last week’s article included a freewrite to get you going toward writing on a topic that surprises you or allows you to get into a piece of writing in a way that is new to you. If you haven’t done freewrite … Continue reading →

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

Acknowledging the Value of Your Writing, Part 4

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

Creating Self-Understanding Despite Fears of Revealing Your Own Shortcomings and True Experience Before we see what writers have said on the issue of fear about revealing oneself through writing, try this exercise: Select four or so pieces of your writing. Look for nouns that you used more than you knew you did. Circle these words … Continue reading →

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

Acknowledging the Value of Your Writing Part 3 of 4

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

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

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2017 | Tagged writing inspiration

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

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

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

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

Writing About Painful Topics

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

My friend, the essayist Brenda Miller, wrote the introduction to my memoir A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief. “I understood then,” she wrote, “that grief can be a channel in which you swim alone, where you can also find your brethren as they flicker along beside you, their bodies gliding … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

Writing the Eulogy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What It Takes – An Exercise to Keep You Writing

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

This time of year, we are often flooded with memories of our childhoods, especially of winter holiday times. Some of the memories may be of difficulties and some may be of times filled with excitement and joy. Happy or sad, peaceful or filled with anxiety, these memories can lead to vivid writing. In drafting writing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Reading for Writing, WIR2016

‘Tis the Season for Lists

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

[Note: I originally posted the following article in December, 2007. It’s holiday preparation time again and lists keep us sane. They can also keep us writing! Try the exercise I am suggesting based on writing lists poems. Try it more than once during this season of shopping lists, invitation lists and gift lists.] You might … Continue reading →

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

Openings That Make You Continue Writing

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

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

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

Deepen Your Writing: 20 Prompts Using Point of View

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

Many of us writing memoir are used to writing from the first person (I) point of view. Others of us write fiction in the first person, often as an autobiographically-based main character. Some of us write in third person (he or she) when we want to tell an autobiographical story but feel too close to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2016

Focus on Emotions Using the Epistolary (Letter) Form

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

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

Posted in 2016, Instructional Exercises | 1 Reply

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

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

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

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

What the Teacher Was Thinking

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

Whatever our role in life, however well we perform in it, there is always the not knowing if we are doing it right, if what we are trying to accomplish will be accomplished. Sometimes that situation offers us a prompt we can use for writing. As a writing teacher, I spend many of the minutes … Continue reading →

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

23 Prompts for Revising

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

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

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

20 Memoir and Personal Essay Writing Prompts

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

Exploring your life on the page is daunting whether you are writing short memoir (the personal essay) or a book-length manuscript. Where does one start? How does one choose the highlights for the story’s exploration? How does one find surprises? Here are 20 ideas to find a point of entry and to organize your memoir … Continue reading →

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

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

Writing the Dear Mom Letter with Deborah Berger

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

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

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

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

Clear the Debris of Abstraction and Sentimentality

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

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

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

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

Cognitive Therapy for Writers: Behave Your Way Into Writing

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

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

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

Four Prompts That Work for Getting Past Intention

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

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

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2015

20 Dialog Building Prompts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 17, 2014 by Sheila BenderDecember 17, 2014

Dialog moves a narrative along in fiction, personal essay, memoir and poetry, too. Playing with ways to experiment with dialog will help you build your dexterity with this aspect of the writing craft. And playing with the prompts might have you creating some new writing you’ll want to expand. Write a conversation between three people–one who … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing dialog, writing exercises, Writing Fiction

20 Character Building Exercises

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 10, 2014 by Sheila BenderDecember 10, 2014

When we write fiction, we need to get inside our characters’ beings. When we write memoir, we need to learn more about our own character as well as the character of people who have influenced our experience. But sometimes we need a pathway to find fresh material. Here are 20 exercises for getting to know our characters and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, Writing Fiction

Keeping a Writer’s Journal? 21 Prompts to Help You

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 3, 2014 by Sheila BenderDecember 3, 2014

Keeping a notebook of short descriptions, thoughts, overheard conversations, quotes and even complaints and worries will keep us in the writing mode, even when our days are filled with other activities and concerns. I have been reading a wise and inspiring book called The Journal Keeper, A Memoir, by Phyllis Theroux. The author put together journal entries … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged journaling, literary journals, writing exercises

Play with 20 Scene Building Prompts

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 19, 2014 by Sheila BenderNovember 19, 2014

Last week, I wrote about doing a scene-writing exercise short story writer and teacher, Ron Carlson, invented. This week, I am posting 20 ideas I’ve put together for practice writing scenes that will help you develop dexterity in presenting your story, fiction or nonfiction, with the kinds of phrasing and details that absorb readers. Try … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

The Physicality of Writing Scenes and Characters

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 12, 2014 by Sheila BenderNovember 16, 2014

As writers, we are aware of the dictum “Show, don’t tell,” but sometimes what we think of as showing turns out to be only another way of telling and avoiding showing. On this subject, I often quote fiction writer Ron Carlson’s words in his book, Ron Carlson Writes a Story: Outer story, the physical world, is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Craft Tools, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

Writing the Interruptions

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 29, 2014 by Sheila BenderOctober 29, 2014

In her book, Marry Your Muse, Jan Philips writes about a day at a mountain cabin when she and her partner were spending time writing. Jan’s cousins, ages 10 and 12, showed up at the door. When Jan told the girls that she and Annie were very busy writing, the girls said they understood, that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, writing exercises

Beach House: How do writers get the conscious mind to meld with the unconscious?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 8, 2014 by Christi Killien GloverOctober 8, 2014

What follows is Chapter Five from the forthcoming updated edition of Writing In A New Convertible with the Top Down: A Unique Guide for Writers. In 1992, Christi Killien Glover and I began an exchange of letters to explore and articulate our writing processes. We wanted to help new writers invest in the magic of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2014

You Could Be Writing, Not Waiting to Write: Four Very Portable Short Forms

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 21, 2014 by Sheila BenderAugust 21, 2014

Before appointments, when a meeting hasn’t started, when a bus hasn’t come, when a friend is late, when you have finished something and still have time before the next thing in your day, when you arrive early to work — do you write or reflexively check your email or text a friend or leaf through … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing advice, Writing Poetry

It Wraps Back on Itself: Writing the Roundel

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 13, 2014 by Sheila BenderAugust 13, 2014

This, my second week in Denmark visiting my daughter and her family, I continued with my idea of writing more poetry in form. I flipped through the book my younger grandson, who had used it in third grade, had given me, A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, and stopped on … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged writing exercises, Writing Poetry

Writing Dispatch from Denmark: Northern Jutland Pantoum

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 5, 2014 by Sheila BenderAugust 6, 2014

I am in Denmark for the month of August visiting my daughter and her family. She and her husband are here working, and the international school my grandsons attended is out for the summer. My job is being nanny, but it’s more like company, for the boys. An enthusiastic traveler, Emily makes sure weekends are full. On my first … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2014 | Tagged Writing Craft Tools, Writing Poetry

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

Writing Prompts To Anchor Summer

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 2, 2014 by Sheila BenderJuly 2, 2014

Originally published in in the summer of 2005, this article is filled with writing exercises inspired by the summer holidays. I think they will come in handy again to help you keep on writing, even though summer is loaded with traditional holiday social demands and active outdoor recreation. Learning the history of holidays can provide writers with prompts that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2014 | Tagged writing exercises, writing inspiration

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

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 →

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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

Celebrate National Poetry Month by Writing Poems! Yes, Even If You Think You Can’t!

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 2, 2014 by Sheila BenderApril 3, 2014

National Poetry Month started yesterday. This week’s article is an oldie but goodie, originally published in 2007 and updated for 2014. In Port Townsend, the daffodils have been up several weeks. As usual out here, it looks like we’ll get rain this next week and certainly lots during the month of April, but I remind … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged writing advice, writing exercises, Writing Poetry

Are You Worrying About What’s Happened to Your Creativity?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 26, 2014 by Sheila BenderMarch 26, 2014

Our creativity is an eternal light. It burns even when we are not paying attention to it. It doesn’t need relighting so much as finding where it lights our path.

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2014 | Tagged creativity, writing exercises

Where Does Creativity Start?

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 12, 2014 by Sheila BenderApril 24, 2014

You may think that being creative requires that you have an idea for a finished product. But an important attribute of creativity is that it produces what it will, not necessarily what you were thinking it ought to. You may think creativity requires completing laborious hours of work. But many people experience creativity seeming to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2014 | Tagged overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images, writing advice, writing inspiration

New Year’s Thoughts and Advice From My Correspondence With My iPad Mini

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 31, 2013 by Sheila BenderFebruary 18, 2014

December 31, 2013 Dear Mini, Today marks our six-month anniversary of being together!  Six months! And you, my love, remain ever fresh and surprising, ever so original! We haven’t parted for even a day since that July afternoon when I gave in to the gleam in your eye and brought you home. I want to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2013 | Tagged persona essay, personal essay, writing exercises

Our Writing Minds Depend on This

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 11, 2013 by Sheila BenderDecember 11, 2013

Writing depends on our willingness to observe closely and our ability to allow ourselves to engage emotionally with what we are observing. So often, though, we don’t remember to take time to look around rather than look only at our screens because of the mad crush of email, texts, instant messages, facebook posts, tweets, and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged on writing, overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images, writing advice, writing exercises, 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

Writing a Eulogy Starting with a Remembered Trait

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 23, 2013 by Sheila BenderOctober 23, 2013

When asked to write a eulogy for a family member you cared for, you may find that your memories and those of others who knew the person you are writing about might span a lifetime but with gaps. Thinking of a physical trait you strongly associate with the person who has died and opening the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, WIR2013

On Writing for Weddings

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 9, 2013 by Sheila BenderOctober 9, 2013

In writing a wedding speech, we reflect upon our lives, our hopes and dreams and the hard work of relationship.

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2013 | Tagged speech-writing, wedding speech, writing advice, writing exercises, writing inspiration

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

A Keynote Address Using Personal Experience

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 25, 2013 by Sheila BenderOctober 8, 2013

As the writers among our circles of family, friends, colleagues and associates, we are often approached to write addresses and eulogies, toasts and speeches. On September 19, 2013, I presented the keynote address at Providence Hospice of Seattle’s annual Pediatric Luncheon. It is a fundraiser for the organization’s work with grieving and terminally ill children and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2013, Writing Makes a Difference | Tagged memoir, personal essay, writing advice, writing inspiration, writing memoir

If You Write Prose, You Can Write Poetry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 18, 2013 by Sheila BenderSeptember 18, 2013

A few years ago, Kathy Lockwood, one of my distance learning students, was having trouble writing poems because she was moving. She had to clean out and reduce her belongings, pack things up and move on, though she and her husband weren’t exactly sure where his work would be taking them. When she called for help, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Revisions - Sample Successes, WIR2013 | Tagged Trusting Images, writing advice, Writing Poetry

Look, Listen, Touch, Smell, Taste: 7 More Ideas for Your Writer’s Journal

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 7, 2013 by Sheila BenderSeptember 12, 2013

There is a pleasure in the thought that the particular tone of my mind at this moment may be new in the universe; that the emotions of this hour may be peculiar and unexampled in the whole of eternity of moral being. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, April 17, 1827, Charleston, South Carolina How can you … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged literary journals, overcoming writer's block, Trusting Images, writing exercises, Writing Scenes

Writing Important Life Occasions

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 24, 2013 by Sheila BenderSeptember 12, 2013

Our lives present us with births, deaths, marriages, anniversaries, and other beginnings and endings. The following prompts excerpted from A Year in the Life: Journaling For Self-Discovery can help us focus our attention on our joy or grief and keep us from the stumbling block of thinking too hard instead of just writing for awhile. Birthdays … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged literary journals, trust your writing, writing exercises, writing inspiration

Visual Art Helps Us Write Grief’s Wisdom

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 12, 2013 by Sheila BenderJune 12, 2013

I am pleased to post an excerpt from my new book, Sorrow’s Words: Writing Exercises to Heal Grief, now available on iTunes and Kindle. A year ago, when Beth Bacon of Zoyo Branding, asked if she could publish a digital book for me, I knew immediately I wanted to create a book from teaching material I developed for those … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2013

In May I Rush to Use Sensory Details

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 5, 2013 by Sheila BenderSeptember 12, 2013

As adults, we are so used to summarizing and editorializing. We have learned that abstractions are considered “smart” in writing and having opinions makes us sound even smarter. That’s what our teachers wanted from us on papers and on essay tests. But creative writing, whether that is in poetry, fiction, personal essay or in longer … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, The Working Writer, WIR2013 | Tagged trust your writing, Trusting Images, writing advice, Writing Craft Tools, Writing Poetry

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

You Are My Heroes — A Letter to Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 26, 2012 by Sheila BenderDecember 26, 2012

You may have taken time away from writing while preparing for the holidays, but now’s the time to jump back in to reach your writing goals. This week’s article from the Writing It Real archives first appeared in 2006. If offers support for taking the place of writing in your life seriously and a writing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2012 | Tagged on writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing inspiration

Writing Between the Lines: A Personal Essay Writing Idea

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 5, 2012 by Sheila BenderOctober 3, 2013

I receive news headlines online from the Washington Post. It is unusual for one of their tech headlines to capture my interest, let alone to inspire a creative writing idea. But yesterday, a headline about a tech book review caught my eye because of the book’s title: The Human Face of Big Data: How information … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012 | Tagged personal essay, Trusting Images, writing advice

A Holiday Letter

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 20, 2012 by Sheila BenderDecember 17, 2012

After a request from a Writing It Real member to write more on the topic of composing holiday letters, I decided first to write my holiday letter and see what lessons came. I started with the scene of a recent night’s wakefulness and let that scene lead me to associations concerning some of the events … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, Literary Gallery, Sheila Bender On Writing, WIR2012 | Tagged memoir, personal essay, trust your images

Sparking Young (and Older) Writers’ Minds Using Abantu

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 4, 2012 by Sheila BenderOctober 4, 2012

What is Abantu? Years ago during a summer writing workshop at Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, WA, poet Robert Hass (who went on to serve as a recent U.S. Poet Laureate) taught students a short couplet form that he had read was an oral tradition among the Bantu people of Africa.  In class, he recited … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012

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

The Letter Form: To Say It in Writing is to Hear It

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 25, 2012 by Sheila BenderApril 25, 2012

Recently, Samantha Smith, a middle school student from our town, placed as a Washington State champion in The Library of Congress’ national contest Letters About Literature. Each year, students are asked to write a letter to their favorite authors, living or dead. The winning essays from each state are sent to Washington DC and national … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012

Images Are What Pop for Readers, Not Telling: Exercises to Increase Your Expertise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 11, 2012 by Sheila BenderApril 11, 2012

Most of us find it hard sometimes to believe that the specifics of what we see, taste, touch, smell and hear relate our inner perceptions and feelings (or those of our characters) without explanation. We may be writing with specifics and then, without realizing it, begin to explain and annotate, argue and attempt to persuade … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012 | Tagged Trusting Images, Writing Poetry, Writing Scenes

Dreaming a Job, Defining as Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 25, 2012 by Sheila BenderFebruary 19, 2012

On a writing retreat, I read through a manuscripts-wanted listing in an arts commission newsletter and noticed a magazine asking for short essays by women on work. I thought about my work roles and how I felt about them–mother, teacher, co-owner of my husband’s computer networking business, poet. How I wished that my “job” as … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2012

Writing Better Holiday Letters

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 8, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 16, 2013

The holidays are a time of turning to traditions that symbolize our love and connection to our families, friends, communities, earth, and the divine.  With the pragmatism characteristic of Americans, many of us have made holiday card sending into a vehicle for mailing yearly catch-up letters.  These letters allow us to perform the task of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

Writing For Thanksgiving–Rituals and Memories

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 24, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

Each year in the US, the period of time from the last days of summer through the end of December seems more and more like an overgrown garden. It is hard to perceive the holidays separately from one another. There are no pathways between them, no mulch to keep them apart. How can we sort … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, 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

Mining Words and Word Histories for Writing Personal Essays

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 8, 2011 by Sheila BenderDecember 14, 2011

It wasn’t all that long ago that I finally developed the habit of not relying on context alone to understand a word new to me, but instead began looking it up and thinking about the dictionary definition. This way, I have added many words to my vocabulary from textbooks and articles: “synecdoche,” “vatic,” “orphic,” “hagiography,” … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

Inspiration from “Back in Eugene: Three Vignettes”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 1, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

At this past April’s Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writer’s Conference, participant Janet Love read the following vignettes to the group. She had the idea of developing a piece about exploring her life since moving she from northern California to Eugene, Oregon by being sure to mention one of her three children in each … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

Music of the Spheres

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 4, 2011 by Sheila BenderDecember 5, 2011

This week we are proud to post our second place winner in the recent WIR writing contest. Music of the Spheres By Charles Blondino He sits into the leather chair large enough for three of him. “I just learned to play this,” he says and lifts his guitar. We both watch the fingers of the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

Write as Tukwilla’s Youth of Arrival Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 21, 2011 by Sheila BenderNovember 28, 2011

“…poetry, like bread, is for everyone.” — Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton Many people say they don’t enjoy poetry or they don’t find it accessible. But they didn’t have Merna Ann Hecht for a teacher. She teaches her students how they can find the small stories that tell the larger story through poetry. As a poet, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Instructional Exercises, WIR2011

Worth 1000 Words

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 28, 2010 by Judith KitchenOctober 25, 2011

Creative nonfiction writer and novelist, Judith Kitchen shares with us a fruitful exercise she created for those of us searching for new ways to use photographs to inspire our writing. A photograph is both a pseudo-presence and a token of absence. . . — Susan Sontag, On Photography Traditionally, photographs have been used in nonfiction … Continue reading →

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I Just Do Not Understand You

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 21, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

[This week we offer a second exercise from Dinty W. Moore, author of The Accidental Buddhist and Crafting the Personal Essay and editor of Brevity magazine. –ed.] Too often, we write about other people because we think we know something about that person, or because we feel that we can weigh in with intelligent correctness … Continue reading →

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Just Add Water

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 14, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

[This week we are proud to present the first of two exercises that Dinty W. Moore, author of The Accidental Buddhist and Crafting the Personal Essay and editor of Brevity magazine, uses to help his students work in creative nonfiction. –ed.] Many writers habitually compose memoir-based nonfiction as if someone had once ruled “all childhood … Continue reading →

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Ekphrastic Poetry

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 7, 2010 by Holly J. HughesDecember 13, 2013

[This week we are starting a series of postings with poetry and creative nonfiction writing exercises offered by writers who teach. No matter what genre you favor, try the exercises they describe, and you will most certainly surprise yourself with new and interesting writing. — ed] The term ekphrastic comes from the Greek ekphrasis—ek “out … Continue reading →

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To Keep Our Senses Open

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on September 2, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

It isn’t easy for us to write up to the standards we demand of ourselves when we are writing about those we love who are no longer with us. The more we wish to honor them and the life we resolve to live by incorporating their spirit into ours, the harder it seems to write. … Continue reading →

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Small Things Hold Great Meaning

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 22, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Writing poetry does take a certain frame of mind–one in which the poet realizes that small things hold great emotional meaning. We have to trust that whatever comes to mind and heart can help us begin poems. The following exercise is meant to help you find topics for poems and see how well you can … Continue reading →

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Using Lyric Techniques in Your Writing: Part Four

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 1, 2010 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2014

Giving Attention to Sentence Construction and to Locution In this last installment of the series on paying attention to the sound your words make on the page, we will discuss the use of interesting (to the ear) sentence variety and phraseology. When you write, write. When you revise, pay attention to what you might do … Continue reading →

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Using Lyric Techniques in Your Writing, Part Three

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 25, 2010 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2014

This week we’ll examine more techniques of making meaningful sound on the page to carry emotion and momentum. Onomatopoeia The term onomatopoeia comes from the Greek for “word-making.” It means the employment of one or more words to imitate, echo, or suggest the sound of the thing or action described. Such words include “bang”, “click”, … Continue reading →

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Using Lyric Techniques in Your Writing, Part Two

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 18, 2010 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2014

Remember Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven“? Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at … Continue reading →

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Using Lyric Techniques in Your Writing, Part One

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on March 11, 2010 by Sheila BenderMarch 24, 2014

An essential element for good writing is a good ear: one must listen to the sound of one’s prose. — Barbara Tuchman Sound itself… is surely a signifier of mood, and thus of message… –Mary Oliver Paying attention to the music in our poetry and prose helps us build the emotional content and meaning of … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Nine

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

What is tone? It can seem a hard element to isolate, but we definitely know it when we read it. Compare these two descriptions of the same event: The protest erupted into violence today as police attempted to keep the entrance to the building secure. When they reached the building, the police unleashed their forces … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Eight

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

What is a subplot? It is a smaller story inside a larger story and it illuminates the life, times, personalities, themes and issues of the main characters, often by introducing peripheral characters and events. In novels (and in films) subplots are typically the place that readers make their identification with the main character. Writing in … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Seven

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

Francois Camoin writes in “The Textures of Fiction,” a contribution to Words Overflown by Stars, edited by David Jauss, that fiction is: little bits of action to keep us turning the page, to keep us moving through the landscape that is the point of the enterprise. The events and characters exist for the sake of … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Six

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 11, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

In real life, spoken language together with body language carries mountains of information and, like many if not most writers, you may find it difficult to convey the richness of this in prose. But you have already started writing dialog by doing writers Adrienne Harun and Midge Raymond’s exercises on character development in last week’s … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Five

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

As humans, we are wired for empathy and vicarious living, so we easily put ourselves into stories if we can identify with what the characters are going through in the emotional and physical situations they encounter. Whether we are reading about war heroes who perform godlike acts and save hundreds of people or the girl … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Four

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 28, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Who is telling the story you are writing? It’s an important choice because it dictates what kind of information the narrator knows, and it reveals the window through which you must tell your story to your readers. Will your story be told in the first person? For instance: I had a little lamb, who followed … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction Writing, Part Three

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 21, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Last week we worked on getting to know your protagonist and understanding the necessity of creating a fictional dream for readers. The week before we worked on narrative line and time frame. Now, we’ll turn to developing plot and arc of story. If you are writing a story, you may certainly keep pumping out the … Continue reading →

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The Craft of Fiction, Part Two

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 14, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Last week we explored story ideas and ways to develop them by establishing a narrative line and a time frame. This week we are going to think about the story’s protagonist, his or her nature, dilemmas and settings. In following weeks, we’ll focus on plot, story arc, dialog, tone, and further character development. Whether you … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2009

The Craft of Fiction, Part One

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 7, 2010 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Whether you are talking about short stories by Raymond Carver, novels by Barbara Kingsolver, or sudden fiction by Bruce Holland Rogers, you are reading stories that sprang from the imagination of the authors. Although the stories may in some way reflect events, characters and settings in the lives of the writers, the story elements are … Continue reading →

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On Sue William Silverman’s Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 16, 2009 by Sue William SilvermanMay 21, 2014

Memoirist Sue William Silverman’s guide for memoir writing is hot off the press this month. Fearless Confessions is immensely useful and absorbing. Its tone is warm, patient, helpful and reassuring, and it is itself an example of its lessons — it reads like a memoir about writing memoir and is quite playful as it goes … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2009

A Personal Essay Waiting to Be Written

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 22, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

Our new President is a writer, which focuses national attention on trusting in the power of words. It helps those of us who write from personal experience re-invest in the importance of what we do as we write, hoping to contribute our part in the song of human experience. Newly sworn in, President Obama ended … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2009

How to Overcome Writing Procrastination

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 15, 2009 by Sheila BenderOctober 17, 2011

This week I got a note from a student who said she was looking forward to taking my advice about writing more this year if she could only figure out how to stop working 60 hours a week. I had another student who took a month off work to write important application essays for graduate … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2009

A Writing Lesson from the Journaling Ideas of Author David Mas Masumoto

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on December 11, 2008 by Sheila BenderJune 11, 2014

This time of year we cope with a lot of activity. Social engagements and gift shopping, worrying about how to spread a gift buying budget around and the need to travel distances or entertain out-of-town family sweep away our writing time. Sometimes, our very sense of ourselves as writers disappears. Ironically, this very same time … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

Collect Tidbits, Meditations and Musings

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 7, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 23, 2014

In this exercise, we are going to build an essay, piece of fiction or a poem with inspiration from fiction writers Ron Carlson and Lisa Shea and poet Bill Matthews. You’ll start, without knowing where this might lead, by imitating the style, grammar and strategies these writers used in the journal excerpts they contributed to … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

Sudden Writing

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

One way to tackle subjects you may not feel up to handling is to learn from the strategies of writers who tell stories and/or evoke issues through the use of dialog alone. Their stories are often very short, striking the heart swiftly. The work does not require a lot of set up or description. Instead, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

What Your Furniture Tells You

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 24, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

The following exercise presented by Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writer’s Conference faculty member Susan Rich is from a poetry-writing workshop she presented at our 2007 writers’ conference. We publish it this week as a finale to our celebration of National Poetry Month. We hope you’ll email us your results from this exercise and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

Meg Files and the Poetry of Home

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

This week, in honor of National Poetry Month, we are proud to share an article by Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writers’ Conference faculty member Meg Files I have lived in three countries, in eight states, in fifteen cities, and on one island. I have lived in nine apartments, one duplex, one condo, and … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

Get Your Writing Going this National Poetry Month

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on April 3, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

With poetry, we mourn the passage of time, celebrate connections, yell out at injustice, cry from the pain of unrequited love and exclaim our joy in love and gratitude.  Over the years, I have known I would start poems because of seeing the wet outline of my husband’s swimming trunks through his slacks as we … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2008

A Found Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on January 3, 2008 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

You may have read that since 1976, Lake Superior State University in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has published a yearly list of words/phrases to ban from the Queen’s English. This week, the school released words chosen from over 2000 nominations on the basis of misuse, overuse, or general uselessness in the committee’s eyes. The list’s publication … Continue reading →

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Words for the Groups in Our Lives

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

This past spring, writer Jody Bower created a testament to the close circle of friends she has shared her adult life with. In writing about them, for them and for herself, she evokes a kind of organism made of lives that look distinct but are of one piece, like a stand of Aspens. There are … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

First Words

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on November 29, 2007 by Brenda MillerDecember 2, 2011

Do you have a memory of an early piece of writing you did? A memory that has with it the feeling of enjoyment–that you really liked being able to articulate your experience and thoughts in words? I remember sitting down to my little desk in third grade to write the Chanukah scene for our class’ … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

A Writing Lesson from Morrie, Rilke, and Coleman Barks

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 18, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Years ago, I read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, a man who was Morrie Schwartz’ college student at Brandeis University. The narrative is about weekly visits to see his former professor, who is dying. What is so inspiring in this account is the teacher’s voice and thoughts as he prepares to die but must … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

Cider Mills and Burning Leaves

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 11, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

For many of us, fall brings leaves to rake and sometimes to burn. It brings memories of visiting cider mills and eating sweet doughnuts as we sipped fresh apple cider. This week, take a moment to describe fall days either from the past or from right now. Begin by listing images of the season in … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

Journaling Exercise to Get You Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on October 4, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

I’ve been talking with parents these past few weeks about how their kids are doing with their return to school and all the newness: new teachers, new classrooms, new classmates, new textbooks, new notebooks, and new clubs to join. I know that when I am faced with so much new, I get especially concerned with … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

Defining and Writing the Lyric Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on July 26, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

I spent my summer writing a book called Perfect Phrases for Writing the College Application Essay. My effort was to come up with sentences (sometimes questions, sometimes statements) to help those who have to write the application essay focus and draw specific details from their experience and then organize the details into compelling personal statements. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

Starting with Pieces Yields a Whole

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on June 21, 2007 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Following my reading of and writing in response to Impassio Press’s anthology In Pieces, An Anthology of Fragmentary Writing, I began a book American philosopher Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything. The rich effects of reading each continue to bounce together in my mind. Wilber’s book offers a stirring discussion of the view that … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2007

Making Metaphor Run Deep

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

Writing from our experience gives us the opportunity to know more after the writing than we knew in the experiencing alone. When we can combine our experiencing of outer events with our experiencing of inner events, using the outer as metaphor for the inner, we craft new tools for illuminating ourselves. Each of the tools … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2006

Take Some Time for Playful Journaling, Part II

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

In a journal, writers write without knowing where their writing is going. They unload thoughts, explore obsessions, record insights and observations, and sometimes imitate other writers, noticing how their perceptions come across in the voice and sentence structures of those writers they admire. Sometimes they address their writing to others with whom they feel resonance … Continue reading →

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2006

Take Some Time for Playful Journaling

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on August 24, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

As a writer, I use my journal to both play with strategies I pick up from other writers’ work and test strategies I invent. In combination with observing the “show don’t tell rule” (use imagery and detail that appeal to the senses rather than intangibles that tell the reader how to feel — i.e. “the … Continue reading →

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

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Posted in Archives, Instructional Exercises, WIR2006

Writing from Anticipation

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on February 20, 2006 by Sheila BenderOctober 31, 2011

Here in the Northwest, despite the unusually cold temperatures we recently experienced, daffodils, crocuses and blossoming fruit trees add yellow, purple and pink to our current landscape. And under a week of consistently sunny skies, we find ourselves anticipating spring. We wake to light and prepare dinner before dark. The winter season’s short daylight slowed … Continue reading →

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