Tag Archives: on writing

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

I am very pleased to introduce author Helen Donnelly Goehring live via Zoom. I think you will enjoy Helen’s discussion of how she came to writing and specifically to writing her book Transformed by Grief, published recently in Helen’s 88th year. If you haven’t read “Mother,” one of the essays from her book, which she … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

How and Why We Write

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

When I received a review copy of Take Daily As Needed, Kathryn Trueblood’s “novel in stories” from University of New Mexico press, I dove right into reading it. A novel in stories sounded a lot like how I often advocate memoirists I work with approach their work—discrete personal essays that when collected move toward an … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

I visited Istanbul for almost a month recently, and while I was there, I spent a morning with members of Writing It Real member Yesim Cimcoz’s Yazi Evi (Writing House–you can read Yesim’s essay on the project’s beginning and growth here.) She videotaped my presentation, done in the form of questions and answers. In the … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Listening to Writers–New, Emerging and Well-Published

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Creative Writing: Carpe diem, quam minimum, credula postera

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

I met poet, novelist, and playwright Gary Langford through a long time friend of mine who met Gary years ago in Australia when they were both young men. In the years since, Gary has written in many genres, run a University Creative Writing Program, taught theater, and much, much more. Here he breaks down writing … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

The relationship began three winters ago. Driving a country road in the early dusk, I hit a deer–or as a knowledgeable friend suggested afterward, a deer hit me. A buck with branching antlers leaped from the trees on one side of the road, attacked the hood of my car with an ear-splitting crunch, then disappeared … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Staying in a Committed Relationship With Your Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

According to Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, commitment means “the state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to an ideal or course of action.” Emotionally or intellectually are good words for the writer to fuse. To keep on writing requires both an emotional and cognitive desire. A writer feels pleased and almost propelled to … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

In this video, I talk for ten minutes with Bill Kenower about my beginnings as a writer and what I know now about the craft and about the value of a life path in writing. Bill asked me some intriguing questions, which I am happy to have answered. I hope you feel inspired to contemplate your … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Enabling Voice by Molly Tinsley

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

We praise writing for its voice, but run into problems when we try to describe exactly what it is we’re responding to. Just as we each have an identifiable voice when we speak, there is something we call a writer’s voice that distinguishes his or her work. Faulkner’s fiction sounds different from Hemingway’s. A Mary … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

On Labor Day: What Writers Might Celebrate About Their Vocation

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Nahid Rachlin on Her Writing With Generous Excerpts from Her Memoir

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

This past weekend, I was in conversation with fiction writer and memoirist Nahid Rachlin about her books and writing career. for my radio show on KPTZ ?In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life.? It had been over a decade since she and I had last held an interview, printed in The Writer?s Chronicle … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Sheila Bender Offers Tools for Writers on Breaking Their Silence

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Writers’ Strategies, Questions, And a Writing Exercise

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Write Your Own Manifesto

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

For several years now, I have been interviewing writers, editors, writing program directors and publishers for ?In Conversation: Discussions on Writing and the Writing Life,? my regular program on KPTZ FM radio. At Writing It Real, we archive the programs, after they have aired, to maintain permanent links to all of the interviews. Over the … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

If You Want to Write…

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Cognitive Therapy for Writers: Behave Your Way Into Writing

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

An Ode to the Author of Blue Willow

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

I was reading a magazine article recently in which authors wrote about pivotal books they’ve read. What book would I name, I wondered. Immediately, I saw myself at my fourth grade desk in the 1950’s at Franklin Elementary School in Union Township, New Jersey. I am unwrapping a book I ordered from the Scholastic Book … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Need to Breathe New Life into the Journal Keeping Habit? Hire the Journal Keeper Within

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

It’s spring — we’ll be getting busy with outdoor chores, vacations and other summer activities before long. Less time for writing, you might be thinking. But an effective way to keep up your writing is to commit to keeping a writer’s journal where you can explore language, memories, writing ideas and more. But when in … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

What I Was Thinking

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

This article first ran January 24, 2008, after a visit from my grandsons. Their visit over this past Martin Luther King three-day weekend had me thinking again about the way watching children’s reactions to our adult judgments and commands can help us become kinder to our writing and our writing selves, so we can better … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Our Writing Minds Depend on This

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Tips for Creating a Great Author Photo and Bio

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 1

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

On Writing Memoir: Obsessions Digressions and Epiphanies

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Five Tips for Inspiring Quality Writing from Life Experience

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

Tip #1 — Find An Occasion Poet Stanley Plumly says that poems must weigh more at the end than they do at the beginning. As with poetry, the personal essay and memoir supply a vehicle for writers to find out what matters and to feel the weight of what matters. As writers, we take ourselves, and … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Taking Chances

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Interview with Poet and Memoirist Kim Stafford

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Our Dreams Choose Us

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

After I began studying with poets at the University of Washington in the early 80’s, I had a closet in my bedroom under my house’s eaves converted into a writing nook with a skylight. Sitting there at night, I could see the stars and sometimes the moon. During the day, sunshine and Seattle’s famous clouds, … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

You Are My Heroes — A Letter to Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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 →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

The Holiness of the Heart’s Affections

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

The following article about trusting our need to write was first published in Writing It Real on December 25, 2003.  As this year draws to a close, it seems timely again to remember that as artists, we must overcome  whatever lack of courage  we harbor and meet the world’s sadness as well as its joy with … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Making a Book from Lists: An Interview with Adam Diament

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Judging the Personal Essay

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

In 2007, I wrote about the way I judge essays in a contest. As Writing It Real members enter their work for our 2013 Fall contest, I am reposting my thoughts on the judging process. When I judge, I separate judging into three steps and view the roles I take on, first of friend, then of … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Some of My Favorite Answers For Writers

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

A good interview calls forth the best from an interviewee, and I am pleased that I have had such opportunities to articulate the thoughts and experiences that shaped me as a writer and writing teacher.  Here are answers I’ve reread recenting and find worth repeating to others as well as to myself: I was honored … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

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

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Getting Your Writing Past Contest Screening Judges

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

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

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →

Suzan Huney’s “Choice Bits”

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

At a writing conference workshop on developing the personal essay, Suzan Huney read the draft of an essay spawned by thumbing through her address book.  Her musings on the people she found in her book led to memories of her grandmother’s address book and then to consulting it directly. As she continued her drafting process, … Continue reading →

To access this post, you must purchase Lifetime Membership In Writing It Real.

Continue reading →