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Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash   “Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation . . . We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging ...

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Photo by Aung Soe Min on Unsplash   “I do not so much write a book as sit up with it, as a dying friend. I hold its hand and hope it will get better.” ― Annie Dillard~ Dear Woman Who Writes, Only love sustains the writing life. Why would a person willingly risk rejection? Why would anyone want to spend hours writing ...

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Photo by Levi Guzman on Unsplash   Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? ~Mary Oliver~   Dear Women Who Write, The above question from Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day,” is easily misinterpreted when pulled out of context. It sounds like the speaker wants her audience to make resolutions for self-improvement. In fact, ...

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Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash   “Snow was falling, so much like stars filling the dark trees that one could easily imagine its reason for being was nothing more than prettiness.” ~Mary Oliver~   Dear Women, Who Write! The silence of snow has always impressed this former Iowan. The world seems to slow as flakes fall heavily to the ...

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Photo by  Fidel Fernando on Unsplash   “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh ~ Dear Members and Friends of Women Who Write— I once scoffed at the cliché expression “attitude of gratitude,” considering it Pollyannish. And then came the pandemic.  Suddenly, the ordinary felt extraordinary— a walk in the park, a dog at my ...

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  Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash   “I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light . . .” The Peace of Wild Things ~Wendell Berry~ Dear Woman, Who Writes— Imagine finding this sole bench by a mountain-lake, with a journal in hand, as rust leaves fall softly ...

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Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash   “The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable,  but the power of many working together is better.” Gloria Macapagal Arroyo   Dear Woman, Who Writes— By the time you receive this monthly missive, you’ll have celebrated Labor Day with picnics, family gatherings around the barbecue grill, corn hole or football. All these activities are ...

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Image by Shelby Miller via Unsplash   “And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things — childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves — that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers. ~Salman Rushdie~   Dear WWW Member— We can’t let August pass without ...

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  “Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it begins as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.” ~Mary Oliver~   Dear Women Who Write! Yesterday, I discovered an essay titled, “Thirteen Ways of Looking out a Window,” a pandemic composition borrowing from the Wallace Stevens poem, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” ...

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Photo by Brigitte Thom on Unsplash “Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened. But if a story touches you, it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.” ~Neil Gaiman~   Dear Women ...

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