Sheila Bender, Writing It Real
@sheilawrites.bsky.social
Founder of WritingItReal.com (now an archive), poet, memoirist, developmental editor, and creative writing teacher/coach. Visit her for new articles at sheilabender.substack.com
A new Writing It Real "In Conversation" video is up. I am talking with Evanston, IL, poet Beth Jacob about her new book Luminous Loves Grey and the place of poetry in her life.
In Conversation with poet Beth Jacobs
YouTube video by Sheila Bender
www.youtube.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:24 AM
A new Writing It Real "In Conversation" video is up. I am talking with Evanston, IL, poet Beth Jacob about her new book Luminous Loves Grey and the place of poetry in her life.
My new post on Substack is an essay by Writing It Real subscriber Liz Hartz for the series, "How I Knew I Was a Writer."
Thank you, Liz, for the essay and also for the mention in your bio (I am blushing at the high praise).
Thank you, Liz, for the essay and also for the mention in your bio (I am blushing at the high praise).
Writing: The Best Way to Metabolize My Life
A Writing It Real subscriber essay in the series "When I Knew I Was a Writer"
sheilabender.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:57 PM
My new post on Substack is an essay by Writing It Real subscriber Liz Hartz for the series, "How I Knew I Was a Writer."
Thank you, Liz, for the essay and also for the mention in your bio (I am blushing at the high praise).
Thank you, Liz, for the essay and also for the mention in your bio (I am blushing at the high praise).
Sheila Bender Writing It Real
1h
I want to help you keep writing this holiday season when you might feel you don’t have time or bandwidth to concentrate on our writing.
Spend 2 hours on 12/27 via Zoom & leave knowing how much you can generate in minutes.
Il Chiostro has the class description.
1h
I want to help you keep writing this holiday season when you might feel you don’t have time or bandwidth to concentrate on our writing.
Spend 2 hours on 12/27 via Zoom & leave knowing how much you can generate in minutes.
Il Chiostro has the class description.
ONLINE CLASS: All I Want for Christmas is to Write! - Il Chiostro
A Flashy Holiday Special with Sheila Bender
ilchiostro.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Sheila Bender Writing It Real
1h
I want to help you keep writing this holiday season when you might feel you don’t have time or bandwidth to concentrate on our writing.
Spend 2 hours on 12/27 via Zoom & leave knowing how much you can generate in minutes.
Il Chiostro has the class description.
1h
I want to help you keep writing this holiday season when you might feel you don’t have time or bandwidth to concentrate on our writing.
Spend 2 hours on 12/27 via Zoom & leave knowing how much you can generate in minutes.
Il Chiostro has the class description.
There's another writer's essay on "When I Knew I Was a
Writer."
Writer."
In the Lineage
Subscriber contribution to the Writing It Real series "When I knew I Was a Writer"
sheilabender.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:03 AM
There's another writer's essay on "When I Knew I Was a
Writer."
Writer."
Another weekly newsletter with a prompt, resource links, and subscriber successes.
November 20, 2025 Writing It Real Weekly Newsletter
Resources, workshops, subscriber successes
sheilabender.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Another weekly newsletter with a prompt, resource links, and subscriber successes.
Another fabulous essay by a Writing It Real subscriber on the topic of how I knew I was a writer.
How And When I knew I Was a Writer
Subscriber Contribution to the Writing It Real series of essays on the topic
sheilabender.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Another fabulous essay by a Writing It Real subscriber on the topic of how I knew I was a writer.
Contemplating Christmas decorations going up in my town before we've gathered for Thanksgiving, I think about the now.
Weekly Writing It Real Newsletter
November 13, 2025 News, Resources, and Publication Successes
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Contemplating Christmas decorations going up in my town before we've gathered for Thanksgiving, I think about the now.
I have just posted this week's essay in the Writing It Real series "When I knew I was a writer."
The Things We Do
Subscriber Contribution to the Writing It Real Series on When I Knew I Was A Writer
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:13 PM
I have just posted this week's essay in the Writing It Real series "When I knew I was a writer."
On my Substack a reading with three fine poets and a good Q&A about their poetry and the place of poetry in today's world.
Bethany Reid, Lillo Way, and Lisa Ashley Read from Their Poetry Collections
With a discussion of their poems and the place of poetry in their lives
sheilabender.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:31 AM
On my Substack a reading with three fine poets and a good Q&A about their poetry and the place of poetry in today's world.
Another fun essay about considering oneself a writer.
Writing is the Most Selfish Thing I Do
Contribution to the Writing It Real Series on How I Knew I Was a Writer
sheilabender.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Another fun essay about considering oneself a writer.
In the Writing Burrow
margaretatwood.substack.com?r=53z5e&utm_...
margaretatwood.substack.com?r=53z5e&utm_...
In the Writing Burrow | Margaret Atwood | Substack
Whatever comes into my addled, shrinking brain. Click to read In the Writing Burrow, by Margaret Atwood, a Substack publication with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
margaretatwood.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
In the Writing Burrow
margaretatwood.substack.com?r=53z5e&utm_...
margaretatwood.substack.com?r=53z5e&utm_...
I've just posted my weekly writers' newsletter on Substack.
October 30, 2025 Writing It RealWeekly Newsletter
Dear Writers,
sheilabender.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:16 AM
I've just posted my weekly writers' newsletter on Substack.
I just posted a short essay by David D. Horowitz in my series of short essays by writers on when they knew they were writers.
TURNING THE VERBAL KALEIDOSCOPE
Contribution to the Writing It Real Series on How I Knew I Was a Writer
sheilabender.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I just posted a short essay by David D. Horowitz in my series of short essays by writers on when they knew they were writers.
📮 “Dear Substack Follower...Sorry but Did You Mean to Subscribe?” If you follow but don't subscribe to a substack, you may be missing out--certainly on many posts for which links are emailed to you.
📮 “Dear Substack Follower...Sorry but Did You Mean to Subscribe?”
(including 7 direct message scripts.)
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 9:23 PM
📮 “Dear Substack Follower...Sorry but Did You Mean to Subscribe?” If you follow but don't subscribe to a substack, you may be missing out--certainly on many posts for which links are emailed to you.
I post a weekly newsletter on Substack every Thursday evening. I've just posted this week's with new resource links and more.
October 23, 2025 Weekly Writing It Real Newsletter
Dear Writers,
open.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:20 AM
I post a weekly newsletter on Substack every Thursday evening. I've just posted this week's with new resource links and more.
This week's newsletter on Substack with more resourse links for writers.
sheilabender.substack.com/p/writing-it...
sheilabender.substack.com/p/writing-it...
Writing It Real Weekly Newsletter
Link to Zoom interview with Melissa Frateriggo, Resource links for writers, and Successes
sheilabender.substack.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
This week's newsletter on Substack with more resourse links for writers.
sheilabender.substack.com/p/writing-it...
sheilabender.substack.com/p/writing-it...
I post a newsletter on Substack every week. It has resource links for writers as well as links to a new monthly article. This time it is a Zoom recording of In Conversation with Melissa Frateriggo, author of The Perils of Girlhood, A Memoir in Essays.
open.substack.com/pub/sheilabe...
open.substack.com/pub/sheilabe...
Weekly Writing It Real Newsletter
October 2, 2025
open.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I post a newsletter on Substack every week. It has resource links for writers as well as links to a new monthly article. This time it is a Zoom recording of In Conversation with Melissa Frateriggo, author of The Perils of Girlhood, A Memoir in Essays.
open.substack.com/pub/sheilabe...
open.substack.com/pub/sheilabe...
Here's a link to this week's Writing It Real newsletter with new resource links for writers.
Writing It Real Weekly Newsletter
Dear Writers,
sheilabender.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Here's a link to this week's Writing It Real newsletter with new resource links for writers.
My weekly letter on Substack has lots of information, including about the Writing It Real in Lake Garda, Italy writers workshop in September 2026, when I join forces with author Brenda Miller.
September 19, 2025 at 2:00 AM
My weekly letter on Substack has lots of information, including about the Writing It Real in Lake Garda, Italy writers workshop in September 2026, when I join forces with author Brenda Miller.
I've posted a video interview with author and therapist Philip Kenney. I used to have a radio program on Port Townsend, WA's station KPTZ. It felt good to get back to those kinds of conversations with authors.
sheilabender.substack.com/p/in-convers...
sheilabender.substack.com/p/in-convers...
In Conversation with Philip Kenney
Following up on last week's post, more about the author's work
sheilabender.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 6:33 AM
I've posted a video interview with author and therapist Philip Kenney. I used to have a radio program on Port Townsend, WA's station KPTZ. It felt good to get back to those kinds of conversations with authors.
sheilabender.substack.com/p/in-convers...
sheilabender.substack.com/p/in-convers...
I have a new article up on my Substack. It's on spirituality and writing by Philip Kenney.
Philip Kenney | Substack
Psychotherapist and author of "The Writer's Crucible" and a recent book of essays entitled: "So Many Surprises: Essays 2013-2023
substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I have a new article up on my Substack. It's on spirituality and writing by Philip Kenney.
A new post on my Substack--"On the Union of Writers and Spirit," an excerpt from guest author Philip Kenney's collection of essays So Many Surprises.
On the Union of Writers and Spirit
Excerpt from Philip Kenney's collection of essays, So Many Surprises: Essays 2013-2023
open.substack.com
September 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
A new post on my Substack--"On the Union of Writers and Spirit," an excerpt from guest author Philip Kenney's collection of essays So Many Surprises.
Want to publish writing on writing? Helpful tips. anecdotes, pithy comments up to 1400 wds on: how-to, how-not-to, publishing, editing, marketing, promotion, humor, kid lit . . . workingwriters@aol.com Include a short bio.
September 3, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Want to publish writing on writing? Helpful tips. anecdotes, pithy comments up to 1400 wds on: how-to, how-not-to, publishing, editing, marketing, promotion, humor, kid lit . . . workingwriters@aol.com Include a short bio.
Here’s a Stanley Kunitz quote I just read. He speaks of poetry, but I would add personal essay and memoir:
“A poem has secrets the poet knows nothing of.”
We write to touch these secrets even if we can’t know the full mystery of them, and our lives are better for it.
“A poem has secrets the poet knows nothing of.”
We write to touch these secrets even if we can’t know the full mystery of them, and our lives are better for it.
September 3, 2025 at 4:31 AM
Here’s a Stanley Kunitz quote I just read. He speaks of poetry, but I would add personal essay and memoir:
“A poem has secrets the poet knows nothing of.”
We write to touch these secrets even if we can’t know the full mystery of them, and our lives are better for it.
“A poem has secrets the poet knows nothing of.”
We write to touch these secrets even if we can’t know the full mystery of them, and our lives are better for it.
The Sunday Morning Rule That Saved My Writing Consistency
The Sunday Morning Rule That Saved My Writing Consistency
She had been staring at the same four articles for weeks.
open.substack.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:59 PM
The Sunday Morning Rule That Saved My Writing Consistency