“You have something to say, your soul has a story to tell. Write it. There is never any reason to be afraid. Just write it and then put it out there for the world. Shove it up a flagpole and see who salutes it. Somebody will say it’s crap. So what? Somebody else will love it. And that’s what writing’s ...

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by Pam Lafollette   As I work on revision #437 of my novel-in-progress, I reflect on what it took to get this manuscript to where it is today. My first novel was 485,000 words: about the size of War and Peace and riddled with the inherent mistakes of a novice—telling-not-showing, meandering prose, lack of conflict, lack of pacing, overuse of ...

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Happy New Year! “Past and Present I know well; each is a friend and sometimes an enemy to me. But it is the quiet, beckoning Future, an absolute stranger, with whom I have fallen madly in love.” ~Richelle E. Goodrich~ ~writer and illustrator of young adult fantasy novels~   Dear Woman-Who-Writes! We all journeyed through a trifecta of historical events ...

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­ “Writing is really a way of thinking — not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic or just sweet.” ~Toni Morrison~     Dear Woman, Who Writes— The blank page. It’s a metaphor for starting over but carries additional meaning for writers. Many of us are intimidated by that blank page. We sit waiting ...

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“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is a letter to the editor. … It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a ...

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“I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.” Clarissa Pinkola Estes ~Author Women Who Run with the Wolves~   Dear Woman, Who Writes— As a membership organization, we have managed—not always ...

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by Kimberly Crum Exploring point-of-view in your writing     “I have wanted you to see out of my eyes so many times.” ~Elizabeth Berg~ Perhaps, you write creative nonfiction — personal essay, memoir, literary journalism. You use fictional techniques to create true stories. But the first-person pronoun, at times, feels a bit narcissistic. And, you tire of the relentless ...

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Saturday, October 10 at 10am until Sunday, October 11 at 3pm   We will retreat again at the Hopscotch House in Prospect, KY on Saturday, October 10—all day—with an overnight option on Saturday night. Cost is $20 including one boxed dinner (no potluck). WWW will provide individually wrapped snacks and each participant will bring a sack lunch. We can accommodate ...

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“Why does one begin to write? Because she feels misunderstood, I guess. Because it never comes out clearly enough when she tries to speak. Because she wants to rephrase the world, to take it in and give it back again differently, so that everything is used and nothing is lost. Because it’s something to do to pass the time until ...

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“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ~Maya Angelou~ Dear WWW Member— We thought we’d meet on Zoom a couple of months. August will be our fifth videoconference meeting. The beat goes on. Isolation and uncertainty can create feelings of restlessness, which Buddhists refer to as, “monkey mind.” Distraction and self-doubt can hamper creativity. ...

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