LaDonna Witmer
@wordsbyladonna.bsky.social
writer of true stories • american emigrant • portuguese immigrant • ex-christian • iced tea addict • raspberry aficionado • aspiring bog witch • breadcrumb follower • donkey rescuer • sometime hermit • she-her • free palestine
Incredibly pleased to have a new piece in KHÔRA's 49th issue this month...
LaDonna Witmer | Sea Swimming — KHÔRA
In the sea near Galway a woman howls at the full moon. She howls with her mouth full of salt. Salt and blood and something deeper than language. Last week her father died. He died in a lawn chair unde...
www.corporealkhora.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Incredibly pleased to have a new piece in KHÔRA's 49th issue this month...
I'm teaching a writing workshop about shame: wordsbyladonna.com/workshops
October 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I'm teaching a writing workshop about shame: wordsbyladonna.com/workshops
"American history needs more names, not fewer. It needs the names of the famous and the names of those who... have remained unidentified in personal and institutional archives. Take that shoe box out of your closet and label your family photos. Everyone’s story matters."
When a Historian Saw This Haunting Photograph of a Nameless Native Girl, She Decided She Had to Identify Her
In 1868, Sophie Mousseau was photographed at Fort Laramie alongside six white Army officers. But her identity—and her life story—remained unknown for more than a century
www.smithsonianmag.com
September 17, 2025 at 6:27 PM
"American history needs more names, not fewer. It needs the names of the famous and the names of those who... have remained unidentified in personal and institutional archives. Take that shoe box out of your closet and label your family photos. Everyone’s story matters."
Teaching two writing workshops via Zoom rn, seats still available for a 1-session class called "Write Your Life" and four sessions of a generative/germinating class called "How to De-Fang Shame"... wordsbyladonna.com/workshops
Workshops — LaDonna Witmer
wordsbyladonna.com
September 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Teaching two writing workshops via Zoom rn, seats still available for a 1-session class called "Write Your Life" and four sessions of a generative/germinating class called "How to De-Fang Shame"... wordsbyladonna.com/workshops
“There is a Gaza—an unwanted and dominated population—behind most stories of democractic rule, which is why the truth that Gaza embodies has the potential to dismantle our world order." —Tareq Baconi in “Confronting the Abject”
September 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM
“There is a Gaza—an unwanted and dominated population—behind most stories of democractic rule, which is why the truth that Gaza embodies has the potential to dismantle our world order." —Tareq Baconi in “Confronting the Abject”
The amount of awful in the world is overwhelming. But there is always something we can do to help. Here is a small thing you can do right now if you have extra cash in your pocket and believe writing is essential: Click below to help my friend Nicole.
gofund.me/6c4724ad
gofund.me/6c4724ad
Donate to Help Nicole Continue Her Writing Journey in Ireland, organized by Nicole Morris
Two years into my midlife pivot, living out my wildest dream as a wr… Nicole Morris needs your support for Help Nicole Continue Her Writing Journey in Ireland
gofund.me
August 13, 2025 at 11:50 AM
The amount of awful in the world is overwhelming. But there is always something we can do to help. Here is a small thing you can do right now if you have extra cash in your pocket and believe writing is essential: Click below to help my friend Nicole.
gofund.me/6c4724ad
gofund.me/6c4724ad
Reposted by LaDonna Witmer
"Would I have come all this way if my mother weren’t disappearing?"
- from "Like a Deer in the Dark," @wordsbyladonna.bsky.social's essay about visiting aging parents in rural Illinois in our July/August issue:
- from "Like a Deer in the Dark," @wordsbyladonna.bsky.social's essay about visiting aging parents in rural Illinois in our July/August issue:
Like a Deer in the Dark
Rural Illinois, March 13, 9:36 p.m. I do not want to be here.
The flight from Lisbon to Chicago was 10 hours, then the chaos of passport control and luggage retrieval. The line at the Budget car re...
literarymama.com
August 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
"Would I have come all this way if my mother weren’t disappearing?"
- from "Like a Deer in the Dark," @wordsbyladonna.bsky.social's essay about visiting aging parents in rural Illinois in our July/August issue:
- from "Like a Deer in the Dark," @wordsbyladonna.bsky.social's essay about visiting aging parents in rural Illinois in our July/August issue:
"Not all immigrants are created equal. Not in circumstance, not in reception, not in opportunity, and certainly not in the English language. We define the terms that create hierarchies within our societies: Who matters and who doesn’t. Who gets welcomed and who gets cast out."
Migration Semantics
The white supremacy of it all
wordsbyladonna.substack.com
August 12, 2025 at 7:15 AM
"Not all immigrants are created equal. Not in circumstance, not in reception, not in opportunity, and certainly not in the English language. We define the terms that create hierarchies within our societies: Who matters and who doesn’t. Who gets welcomed and who gets cast out."
My lit wife Nicole Morris tells it how it is in her latest essay: "You have to have money to be a real writer... It’s just like anything else in these systems of dominance and power. Some of us get in; most of us are locked out."
It Costs Too Much to Be a Writer || A Working Class Rant
To be a writer who has a chance at making it, you gotta pay to play.
nikkidmorris.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
My lit wife Nicole Morris tells it how it is in her latest essay: "You have to have money to be a real writer... It’s just like anything else in these systems of dominance and power. Some of us get in; most of us are locked out."
One thing I love is that sometimes I forget about this poem, and then I cross paths with it again and fall in love once more like the first time I met it:
March 2, 2025 at 3:50 PM
One thing I love is that sometimes I forget about this poem, and then I cross paths with it again and fall in love once more like the first time I met it:
This Friday, DON'T BUY ANYTHING!
<illustration by Martha Rich>
<illustration by Martha Rich>
February 26, 2025 at 5:49 PM
This Friday, DON'T BUY ANYTHING!
<illustration by Martha Rich>
<illustration by Martha Rich>
Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 12:52pm Lisbon time: I finished the first draft of my book. 294 pages, 78,777 words. Time to celebrate and then go back to the beginning with a red ink pen.
February 16, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 12:52pm Lisbon time: I finished the first draft of my book. 294 pages, 78,777 words. Time to celebrate and then go back to the beginning with a red ink pen.
My mom has Alzheimer's and doesn't know who I am anymore. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if she hadn't lost herself.
In a Different Version of This Story
(There are things that will never be)
open.substack.com
February 3, 2025 at 6:27 PM
My mom has Alzheimer's and doesn't know who I am anymore. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like if she hadn't lost herself.
My friend Nicole has a brilliant piece out in Blood Orange Review. Here's the first sentence:
"The biopsy revealed the start of tooth and bone material, keratin and hair, the beginning and ending of what would have been my twin at conception."
The rest is here:
bloodorangereview.com/take-care/
"The biopsy revealed the start of tooth and bone material, keratin and hair, the beginning and ending of what would have been my twin at conception."
The rest is here:
bloodorangereview.com/take-care/
Take Care.
bloodorangereview.com
January 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
My friend Nicole has a brilliant piece out in Blood Orange Review. Here's the first sentence:
"The biopsy revealed the start of tooth and bone material, keratin and hair, the beginning and ending of what would have been my twin at conception."
The rest is here:
bloodorangereview.com/take-care/
"The biopsy revealed the start of tooth and bone material, keratin and hair, the beginning and ending of what would have been my twin at conception."
The rest is here:
bloodorangereview.com/take-care/
Loving this gorgeous poem, "Willingly" by Barbara Sabol...
@swwim.bsky.social
www.swwim.org/swwimeveryda...
@swwim.bsky.social
www.swwim.org/swwimeveryda...
SWWIM Every Day — SWWIM
by Barbara Sabol
www.swwim.org
January 23, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Loving this gorgeous poem, "Willingly" by Barbara Sabol...
@swwim.bsky.social
www.swwim.org/swwimeveryda...
@swwim.bsky.social
www.swwim.org/swwimeveryda...
They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but that is exactly how book publishing works, right?
On using rejection as a signpost. Not so much "No" as "Next!"
open.substack.com/pub/wordsbyl...
On using rejection as a signpost. Not so much "No" as "Next!"
open.substack.com/pub/wordsbyl...
The Hard Nos
Nowhere to go but around
open.substack.com
January 17, 2025 at 12:30 PM
They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but that is exactly how book publishing works, right?
On using rejection as a signpost. Not so much "No" as "Next!"
open.substack.com/pub/wordsbyl...
On using rejection as a signpost. Not so much "No" as "Next!"
open.substack.com/pub/wordsbyl...
A gorgeous piece of writing from Jessica Petrow-Cohen in The Common.
"It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June. I’m sticky in June’s web, tangled, caught, strangled."
www.thecommononline.org/the-laws-of-...
"It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June. I’m sticky in June’s web, tangled, caught, strangled."
www.thecommononline.org/the-laws-of-...
The Laws of Time and Physics
JESSICA PETROW-COHEN <br> My necklace has a thin silver chain and a pendant made of sapphires. My mommy says she knew that my mama was ready to die when she gave away her jewelry. I can see it all so ...
www.thecommononline.org
January 14, 2025 at 3:18 PM
A gorgeous piece of writing from Jessica Petrow-Cohen in The Common.
"It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June. I’m sticky in June’s web, tangled, caught, strangled."
www.thecommononline.org/the-laws-of-...
"It’s happening now, in June, not then, in June, time is collapsing, June is June is June. I’m sticky in June’s web, tangled, caught, strangled."
www.thecommononline.org/the-laws-of-...
Reposted by LaDonna Witmer
Rejection is something every writer faces. But how do you press on when those rejections begin to feel overwhelming? Benjamin Schaefer has advice we all need to hear from time to time.
electricliterature.com/all-of-my-accepted-stories-started-with-rejections
electricliterature.com/all-of-my-accepted-stories-started-with-rejections
All of My Accepted Stories Started with Rejections - Electric Literature
I can't sacrifice my writing for the business of advancing my career
electricliterature.com
January 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Rejection is something every writer faces. But how do you press on when those rejections begin to feel overwhelming? Benjamin Schaefer has advice we all need to hear from time to time.
electricliterature.com/all-of-my-accepted-stories-started-with-rejections
electricliterature.com/all-of-my-accepted-stories-started-with-rejections
Early January is brutal for writing rejections. It's like all these editors were sitting on their reading queues for months but now they're finally wading through submissions and damn. My inbox is like a firehose of No.
January 10, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Early January is brutal for writing rejections. It's like all these editors were sitting on their reading queues for months but now they're finally wading through submissions and damn. My inbox is like a firehose of No.
I know it's January, but ugh, this writing! It's so good I want to eat it.
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/12...
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/12...
Christmas Tree Diary - The Paris Review
“Yesterday I made enough money in wages and tips to pay my half of the monthly mortgage. This morning I found a pine needle in my butt crack.”
www.theparisreview.org
January 9, 2025 at 3:24 PM
I know it's January, but ugh, this writing! It's so good I want to eat it.
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/12...
www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/12...
Ready or not, the New Year is upon us. I am riding out to meet it with every intention to at the very least not make it worse and at the very best make it better, bog witch style. wordsbyladonna.substack.com/p/dont-make-...
Don't Make It Worse
Beginning as I mean to go on
wordsbyladonna.substack.com
January 8, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Ready or not, the New Year is upon us. I am riding out to meet it with every intention to at the very least not make it worse and at the very best make it better, bog witch style. wordsbyladonna.substack.com/p/dont-make-...