Memoirous

Waves: A Confluence of Women's Voices If you’re a woman writer or artist, you’re invited to submit. There are no restrictions as to subject matter and form (other than the necessary word/line limits). We are open to all kinds of work. Along with your creative work in any genre, including artwork, we welcome additional submissions from women who attended the 2015 Retreat Waves Discussion Series, and we’d like to suggest that anyone who has applied for the Gift of Freedom consider submitting some portion of her application. Submit thoughtfully, and check our website for more inspiration as the wave grows. We are hoping for a mix of established and new voices for this anthology, featuring Maxine Hong Kingston. Hear more about Diane Gilliam's vision as editor here . You may submit unpublished or previously published work. If you are submitting we would be glad for you to invite women writ...

Summer of 2011 I received a grant from the Illinois Arts council to attend a writer’s conference called A Room of Her Own ( AROHO ) at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It was a very, very encouraging time. The group of women I met with in the afternoons gave me the confidence to go bold. The group was led by Mary Johnson author of An Unquenchable Thirst now out in paperback. Also in the group was Renny Golden whose latest poetry collection Blood Desert won the WILLA Literary Award by Women Writing the West. One afternoon I sat in on a breakout session led by Kate Gale of Red Hen Press where she extolled us to go bold. What do you really want? It’s not that no one has ever asked me that—just not lately. One of the things I wrote down as a goal was : Win a prize. So far in 2013 I’ve had 4 pieces accepted and been paid for 2 of them. In addition I’ve been shortlisted at The Red Line . Next month at OCWW I am schedule to teach a course on The Art of Writing Small (flas...

"Every mesa was duplicated by a cloud mesa, like a reflection, which lay motionless above it or moved slowly up from behind it. Those cloud formations seemed to be always there, however hot and blue the sky. sometimes they were flat terraces, ledges of vapour. . . .The great tables of granite set down in an empty plain were inconceivable without attendant clouds, which were part of them, as the smoke is part of the censer, or the foam of the wave. --Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop The above is a quote from one of my favorite books--ever. I probably reread it every year and for someone as busy reading new books such as myself, you have a sense of how important this book is to me. It is considered a novel, but is based on a real person, Father Jean Lamy who, after New Mexico was annexed to the United States, became the first archbishop of the territory. I'm sure he had his faults, history never serves its heroes very well. Fiction on the otherhand truly elevates ...

My goal before leaving for AROHO was to make connections, forge relationships. AROHO is big on Serendipity, which I interpreted as I am going to make such good friends. So of course the first three days of the conference I was disappointed. I wasn’t meeting anybody. I kept seeing women sitting around lunch tables laughing and having such animated talks. At dinner more of the same, though they lingered longer. I imagined they were working out the mysteries of life—or if not that then unraveling the secrets of the universe. I’ve always had the misfortune of entering dining halls and becoming paralyzed. I never know where to set my tray—thus I find either an empty table or the seat furthest away, perhaps sending the signal that I want to be left alone—or, hell, I’m not sure people even think about signals. More likely they just want to eat. So with this dining hall affliction, the problem of over-thinking where to sit mixed with fears of rejection and knowing I am utterly ruining the A...

"Solitude, competitiveness and grief are the unavoidable lot of a writer only when there is no organization or network to which she can turn."—Toni Morrison What We Know: Powerful things happen when creative, dynamic AROHO women meet. The high desert of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch is a place of unique inspiration and energy. Taking time apart for oneself and one’s work fosters unique artistic transformation, fresh work, and startling insight. Sometimes writers get stuck. Sometimes we need a shake, a shove, a push. Sometimes just an encouraging word. What We Propose: Shake it up, together! Consider joining an honest discussion among craftmasters in a thriving literary community of eighty women. Everyone speaks. Everyone listens. The AROHO Retreat is designed not around the needs of students, but from the passions of peers. AROHO women are building this retreat with their enthusiasm and concerns, and you could be part of it all. At the 2011 AROHO Retreat w...

The Wilder Life is a new non-fiction book just published by Wendy McClure Wendy is a Chicagoan and a fellow blogger and SCBWI member. This book is her memoir about Laura Ingalls Wilder's fictionalized memoir. Basically the Little House books are a house of mirrors. I'll let you read Wendy's book for the REAL STORY. Truthfully, Wendy's reflections are not all that unique--and that's the genius of it. WE CAN ALL RELATE. I, too, had the dream of being BEST FRIENDS with Laura. I also had a plan where I would travel to all the Little House sights and document them. I was also aware that there were some inconsistencies shall we say with the story. snip from book You mean Laura Ingalls Wilder was bullshitting? Another snip "I guess Laura never figured that there'd be people sitting around and able to look up every little detail of her life . . . " The books have stood the test of time--just not of veracity. Of course for Laura, (she published th...

I've been gone and am now back. I spent a week backpacking in Canyonlands National Park. What I need to do now is get organized. Sooo many good things have been happening lately. Right before I left I got a grant from the Il Arts Council, which I will officially accept as I'm now going to this . I'll try to post my pics from the hike where I an 3 other friends did the Salt Creek Trail and came out to Squaw Flat via the Peekaboo. I hardly ever use this word, but it was AWESOME. For right now I need to recoup. Gear up for a critique group meeting next week and this weekend leaving town for my nephew's wedding--where I'll be helping more or less with my parents who are declining healthwise. It seems now that once a month I see them and can access their current condition--which is always changing. But at least we all made it thru another winter. This is a BIG deal for seniors. So if you have an older parent, call them and congratulate them on making it to spring 2...