There are many posts from the She Writes Blog that seriously qualify for this list, and I'm as sick of year end "Top 10" lists as the next gal right about now.  But, well, I just couldn't resist.  (Yes, Tayari, I am VERY BAD at staycation!) Here's a list of some of our faves.…

The She Writes Blog willl be on staycation until Jan. 3 while the women behind the curtain perform various tasks behind the scenes, but She Writes' doors shall…

When my children were little and took long naps I created Gingerbread castles every christmas. This included spires, turrets, stained glass windows, draw bridges and all mounded upon thick moist gingerbread. After watching my minions and their cousins demolish such an artwork in less than three minutes I was reminded of the monks who draw in colored dust and watch the wind and rain take away their creativity to the heavens...or some such marlaeky. At least I had my…

My neighbor, Libby, has just brought me seven pretty cookies she tells me she started making according to the recipe, then couldn't follow, 'like always; I just have to change things because I hate all those precise measurings, those ingredients there's always one of (star anise; crystallized pomegranate) you've never owned, seen, or will ever likely find in your whole life." She also hands me a card in a red and green envelope and we say goodbye.

They are lovely semi-round cookies…

Author: …

Staying true to change is a mindset, a mindset that is not hardwired in many of us and therefore hard to maintain. I actually like change, in fact, I thrive on it. I can't take the same route to work everyday or go to the same Starbucks. It bores me. Routine cages me in, stunts my growth.  

When I was in graduate school, I frequented many a coffee shop. Most fellow students had "their" coffee shop, I on the other hand, was a coffee shop whore. I couldn't go to just one. I've never…

Author: Tanya Wright, Butterfly Rising

Prompt: What inspires you to...change? 

Photo: Tanya with her dog, Macarena, who plays "Baby Girl" in her…

Cleopatra biographer Stacy Schiff shares advice for aspiring biographers.  (Anyone who knows her, encourage her to join She Writes!)

For those not yet burned out on end-of-year lists: Galleycat lists their Top 10 Publishing Stories and …

She Writer Cheryl Snell and her sister, Janet, made this video together, titled "Idea." Cheryl wrote the poem and Janet supplied the artwork. It's about the HOW of inspiration. It speaks to me. Watch it, and see if it speaks to you too.

For Cheryl's response to Prompt 7 ("What inspires you to make a book?") see…

"I am a writer....a master of words. Like a knife, words should be handled carefully. They can cut deeply, the wound may never heal, and the scar can remain for an eternity." ~Ey Wade

As a child I was inspired to write to comfort the lonely child inside of me. In the fifties being Black was an issue for some (to say the least) and it was worse when you were chunky, wore cat glasses and had alopecia. As the years passed and I…

I take on political topics in my writing--labor activism in Opa Nobody, the need for universal healthcare in Cover Me--but like many writers on She Writes, I start with my own life because that's the subject I know best. A long time ago, when I was working as a cashier and receptionist at a photo processing…

This is the seventh prompt for #swinspires, the Gift of Inspiration campaign hosted by She Writes. Between December 13 and 24, ten She Writers who inspire *us* will share a…

by Marina DelVecchio

I have been a feminist long before I was aware of the word. It also is personal, but I will share it here, since of late, my blog has transformed into a political machine towards empowering women. It is the same when I teach literature to my college students -- I want to make change, but I have a small voice and I belong to a small world -- for now. One day I hope to make my voice heard worldwide, woman-wide,…

Julian Assange ticks me off.

So smooth, so cool, so self-righteous.

Hero of the people

Some people

Male people

Goes through women like

Hot butter through a sieve.

What inspires you (or your writing) to get “political”, and what does the word “politics” mean to you?

What inspires my writing to get "political" is anger. When the world disappoints me, I get political by offering my thoughts on what I am angry about, but my political writing does not end there. Recently, I have become enamored by the visionary sides of movements and by the writing visionaries produce. It is a…