Today's introduction to poet, memoirist, playwright, nonfiction writer, and musician Joy Harjo includes a video of her performance of her famous 'Eagle Song':

http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/05/monday-muse-joy-harjo-performs-eagle.html

Okay, as I kick off my dream in a whirlwind of excitement I ripped off the Band Aide before I had time to rethink or take the time to talk myself out of taking the plunge. Before I knew it I had two - TWO interviews with TWO VERY prominent people in my state - one a state legislator and the other, the first female president of a particular university (who I will be her FINAL interview before she retires - YIKES). How I managed both of those in one week, I have zero idea, but now they're upon…

Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd provide the Thought for the Day:

http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/05/thought-for-day.html

From an early age, because of a rare respiratory disease that makes breathing difficult, Laurie Edwards has spent weeks of her life in the hospital and endured dozens of surgeries. But the 32-year old teacher,…

Today's post offers 10 titles I've found to be especially good reads. http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/03/monday-muse-more-than-just-good-reads.html

 The first reviews of my book Fast Times in Palestine have been coming in, and I always cover my eyes a little bit, wondering what each verdict will be. Luckily it's been mostly good news so far.



Publishers Weekly calls it one of the…

When my memoir How to Sleep Alone in a King-Size Bed came out, people would sometimes say to me, “Writing this must have been very therapeutic for you.” And I would, I have to admit, cringe.

Why the cringe? I cringed because I see the book as a story that I had worked long hours to craft and shape.  I see writing as something I love, but it's also my job. When I think of "therapeutic…

No ifs, ands, or buts. If you're going to self-publish, you need an editor. Choosing the editor you need depends entirely on where you are in the self-publishing process, however.

Essentially there are three editing phases: substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading. It's highly unlikely that you'll find an editor that does all three. In fact, you might be wise to run away from someone that offers to do all three…

I recently wrote the following piece for Shelf Pleasure, a new destination spot for women who love reading. Shelf Pleasure was founded by two former New York editors and marketers. I hope you'll take a look and support this new site. They do take submissions!

• How Books Find Me, by Kristen Havens…

Growing up, my mother always told me how special it is to be a woman. I would listen, absorbing every detail she told me about loving myself and my body, and it sunk in so deeply that I didn't even realize how completely it had permeated my psyche. I grew into a confident, happy adult and, in my ignorant bliss, I had…

Have you ever wondered where a writer obtains historical information or interviews? I began writing regional history long before the advent of the Internet as a feature writer for a weekly newspaper. Searching for the same facts today is much easier if we’re computer literate. Yet nothing beats contact with the people who have stories to share.

During the nine years I wrote for the newspaper, I must have interviewed hundreds of people. My main interest soon became the history…

What made you choose the genre you write or vice versa? Did you fall in love with romance novels as a teenager? Did you see the latest sci-fi flick when you were a kid and get hooked? Perhaps Judy…

Take a look at this group. Formed in the city that is now Vilnius, Lithuania, before World War II, it called itself "Young Vilna." It went on to become one of the most famous writers’ groups in history. 

Over the years, I’ve been a member of five writers’ groups, none of them famous. One had only two…

One of the primary struggles new memoirists face is the question of what to sacrifice in the telling of their memoir, or what to focus on. When a person decides to write a memoir, it’s inevitable that the experience of what they want to write about seems too big, too sprawling,…

I like to think of memoir as a genre in its adolescence.  Before the publication of Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club (1995), Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes (1996) and Katherine Harrison’s The Kiss (1997), the memoir barely existed as a possibility.  Following this logic, the contemporary memoir turns eighteen…

Emily Raboteau spent ten years traveling five nations in order to research her latest book, Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora, a work of creative nonfiction about black people who left home to find the “Promised Land.”  She lives in New York City and teaches creative writing at…

I always lose track of my creative work over the holidays. The culprits are obvious: Morning baking parties and afternoons spent shopping, celebratory time with family and friends and a wee bit of overindulgence in holiday good and drink. By the end of my vacation I’m aching to return to my desk. There’s…

Today I'd like to welcome Brooke Warner, publisher of She Writes Press and founder of Warner Coaching. Brooke is here to talk to us today about self-publishing and the changes going on with the Big…

Previously, on the She Self-Publishes inaugural post, fellow She Writes member, Mina, commented:

"I'm seriously headed in the self-publishing direction, but find the level of what I don't know… daunting. I'd LOVE a bulleted list running down all the basics of self-publishing process, and then points of reference for…

Seeing Red: A Woman's Quest for Truth, Power, and the Sacred, by Lone Mørch

GENRE: MEMOIR

NOW AVAILABLE FOR SALE AT SHEWRITESPRESS.COM.

Seeing Red is one woman’s search for personal…