Tag Archives: writing memoir

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

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Dear Mother, Dear Father, Dear Sister, Dear Brother, Dear Grandmother, Dear Grandfather, Dear Aunt, Dear Uncle, Dear Friend, Dear Neighbor, Dear Librarian, Dear Doctor, Dear Professor, Dear Roommate, Dear EX, Dear College Advisor, Dear Therapistā€” Who in your life had supportive, quality advice for you that you couldnā€™t follow and for what reason? Parental pressure, … Continue reading →

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

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ā€œMemoir that bears witness to history, Iā€™ve come to realize, is never a simple matter of finishing,ā€ author Mimi Schwartz writes at the end of the preface to her new memoir, Good Neighbors, Bad Times Revisited, about her Jewish fatherā€™s pre-WWII German village. ā€œā€˜Thatā€™s how it wasā€™ changes with each new angle of visionā€”be it … Continue reading →

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

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

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Writing in Vignettes Can Generate a Book Length Memoir

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In 2018 and 19, I worked with Writing It Real member Marilea C. Rabasa consulting on a second memoir she was compelled to write and wanted very much to get right. She wasnā€™t happy with the way it was unwinding and together we began the journey of finding a structure for the work that could … Continue reading →

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Nahid Rachlin on Her Writing With Generous Excerpts from Her Memoir

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

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A Three-Part Study Guide to Writing Short Memoir

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Part One To get a feel for short memoir, you might enjoy reading from Writersā€™ Digest magazineā€™s column called ā€œ5-Minute Memoir.ā€Ā  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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Finding Starts in Personal Essay Writing: Part 3

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

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Contest judgeĀ Stan Rubin, aĀ master teacher, poet andĀ friend of writing,Ā wrote that Emma Hunterā€™s essay:Ā Gracefully lives up to its rather daunting title, with wit and philosophical sweep. Concisely renders a dual vision ā€” adult and child, the mundane and the cosmic ā€” with natural dialogue and internal reflection, in a realistic scene. The relationships are delicately and … Continue reading →

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Finding Form

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Tarn Wilson delivered this paper for a panel on ā€œHydra-Headed Memoirs & Well-Connected Essaysā€ at the 2015 Nonfiction Now conference. I am delighted to have her permission to post her words for Writing It Real readers. Tarnā€™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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Sand Spirit Cards — A Tool for Writers

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

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On Making Audio Memoirs

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

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A Lesson About the Value of Writing from Henrik Ibsen’s Play Peer Gynt

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Flying home from Scandinavia in late August, a little uncomfortable in the cramped airline seat, I was remembering stretching my legs on a trip Iā€™d made to Norway years before. That time, I accompanied my daughter to a linguistics conference. She was still nursing her second baby, and she wanted to take him with her … Continue reading →

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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Interview with Memoirist Sue William Silverman

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

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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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On Writing From Life

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

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

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

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

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When you read the following excerpts from Rhonda Wiley-Jonesā€™ memoir, At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up and Growing Away, youā€™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. Iā€™ve included a writing exercise to use … 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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Writer Tells All – A Narrative About Self-publishing

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Are you thinking of self-publishing and wondering what the process is like? It never hurts to hear from one who has successfully navigated the process. With humor and self-awareness, Rhonda Wiley-Jones takes us on her journey as writer turned self-publisher. Reading her narrative is like sitting in the chair next to her. When sheā€™s done … 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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From Idea to Publication: Rhonda Wiley-Jones on Her Memoir Project

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

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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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A Keynote Address Using Personal Experience

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

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First Place Winning Essay 2013 Writing It Real Spring/Summer Contest

Sheila Bender's Writing It Real Posted on by

This week we are proud to publish the first of three winning essays in our recent contest. In choosing Hildegard Hingleā€™s essay as the first place winner in Writing It Realā€™s 2013 spring and summer writing contest, guest judge Terry Persun sent these words: This so reminded me of Nicholas Sparks. At first, Iā€™m unsure … 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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Judith Kitchen on Reading as a Writer Reads Part 2

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Applying her method of reading as a writer reads to Pam Houstonā€™s Contents May Have Shifted, Judith Kitchen asks,Ā ā€œSo is this memoir, masked as novel? Or novel, masked as memoir? Thatā€™s one of the first questions that a reader ofĀ this bookĀ asks. ā€œWhat does it matter?ā€ you might venture. Ā Ā Here is our guest authorā€™s explanation. Reading … 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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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 Houstonā€™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 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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Interview with Memoirist Barbara McNally on The Writing of Unbridled: A Memoir

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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 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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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. Heā€™ll be teaching with Meg Files and Sheila Bender at our Writing It Real in Nashville April 25-28Ā conference. Join us for a chance to work with Jack as … 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 ā€“ Your Writing Will Surprise You! + Membership 2:00PM, In-Class Writing and Responses ā€“ 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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