I am contemplating volunteering to be a writing mentor at a Los Angeles-based nonprofit called WriteGirl. Launched in 2001 by Karen Taylor, #WriteGirl provides weekly one-on-one mentoring, schedules monthly workshops on a variety of writing genres, shares mentee work in public meetings, and publishes books with writings by its mentees. Where do WriteGirl mentees come from? WriteGirl mentees come from high-density public middle and high schools in central Los Angeles. These girls are recommended by their English teachers and are both low and high achievers. Where do I fit in? WriteGirl searches for professional women writers and women with strong communications skills who use writing in their careers in all genres – some like me, who work in multiple genres – who will volunteer to mentor these teen girls. I first heard of WriteGirl at a friend’s birthday party. My friend asked for donations to WriteGirl instead of gifts and hosted WriteGirl staff, volunteers, and … [Read more...]
I’m proud to say, “I am a writer.”
I subscribe to Joe Bunting's The Write Practice. He sends me an email everyday on some facet of writing. Today's was particularly relevant to me since he encouraged his readers to: Be brave. Be bold. Claim your title. Say it with me: ˜I am a writer.' That's what I did yesterday while Stewart at the Apple store was helping me set up my new iPhone. When Stewart asked what I did, without hesitation I told him, I am a writer. And he wanted to know immediately what I write. It turns out that I'm still in my poetry practice phase, so I told him I've been getting back on my writing feet by writing two or three poems a day using prompts I get online. However, I also shared that I have a published memoir out, Leaving the Hall Light On, and I'm working on a novel. At that point I gave him my author business card. With that he shared with me that he has a degree in creative writing from a local university. And you guessed it. We were off and running. Within our twenty-thirty minute … [Read more...]
How to survive a relationship with a writer
The singer and writer Janis Ian, famous when I was a teenager for her song, "At Seventeen," posted these top ten tips, and my friend Marla Miller shared them with her Facebook friends. I had to share as well. Actually, my husband seems to be surviving very well. He's gotten used to me going into my office and spending most of the day there. However, once in a while he'll stand quietly at my door - I usually leave it open, rap lightly with his knuckles and say, "Knock,knock." Sure it's disturbing - I'm probably in mid sentence, it gets me out of my zone, but it usually happens just at the time I need to take a break. Plus it's nice to see him once in a while during the day. Here's the Top Ten Tips … [Read more...]
Introducing my new writing friend, Deborah Kalan
Deborah and I met in Pilates class. We never said more than hello for about six months until one day I mentioned I had to rush away after class because I had a lot of work to do. She asked what I did, and when I said I am a writer, her eyes lit up. She said, I'm a writer too. And our friendship was off and running. I've read a lot of her stories, and I totally agree. She is a writer. I'm so happy to introduce her work to you. My Writing Life By Deborah Kalan I have been writing seriously since my eleventh birthday when I received a leatherette diary the color of blue Irises. The diary was secured with a little strap that had a gold lock and two gold keys. On the front of it were the words Dear Diary. Each page was divided into five sections of about five lines, which in my 11-year-old mind, restricted me to extremely brief entries. In those days, I mostly wrote about boys. The cute ones, the creepy ones, the ones that liked me, the ones that I liked who didn't like me. … [Read more...]
