Writing

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Trashing My Brand: in rejection of the insane trend toward the monetization of everything

I can’t remember why branding myself with a reader-friendly, easily pronounceable name seemed important. This past year, while living and learning among an intentional community of like-minded, kind-hearted people I discovered that there is one thing I must bring to the community, and thereby to the world, that fulfills my life’s (and my writing’s) purpose–Authenticity. …

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Hello world, I'm back; I've changed.

It’s been 16 months –almost the duration of two full-term-pregnancies–since I left the blogosphere. It’s been an Beyond the Looking Glass wild kind of adventure. Please forgive my mysterious non-disclosure about the details behind my disappearance. I’m keeping them quiet for 2 reasons: It’s too freshly painful to recount sensibly and sensitively–memoir needs a lens of distance to achieve objectivity; And more …

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Blush: a Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World by Shirley Hershey Showalter

Meet Shirley Hershey Showalter, author of Blush: a Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World

I am pleased and privileged to introduce you to one of my new favorite authors, Shirley Hershey Showalter. I encourage you to read her memoir Blush: a Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World, to gain insight into the Mennonite culture and the values it instills in its members– generosity, kindness, empathy and a commitment to living well …

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Meet Richard Gilbert, author of Shepherd: a Memoir

 Not only is Richard Gilbert an accomplished writer (author of Shepherd: a memoir) and a writing instructor (at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio), he also publishes a blog which can help you learn to write better. Intermediate and advanced writers of creative non-fiction can learn to write more engaging, thoughtful, readable prose by subscribing to, Richard’s instructive blog for writers …

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Becoming a writer, Sherri Matthews

Becoming a Writer: Introducing Sherri Matthews

Want to know what it takes to become a writer? Ask a writer. Everything I know about writing, I learned from writers. Everything. During the next few months, I’m going to introduce you to four writers who blog about their writing life and share their journey toward becoming a writer. Today I’m introducing Sherry Mathews. Sherri has worked …

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Have I found something to say?

Becoming a writer: finding something to say

Being writers is what people are; becoming published is what writers achieve when someone believes they have something to say.  Publication validates you. It says someone thinks: your writing is understandable;  your writing is interesting,  and therefore your writing is publishable. Being published means you get to take on the ridiculously impossible challenge the privilege of writing for strangers who don’t really care about you. Readers are busy people. They …

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