Do you want to know a secret? The best writing is personal. What goes on between a writer who gets personal and the reader is like an intimate friendship, where you exchange secrets, share emotions, and feel your friendship growing. It comes from somewhere inside, a certain vulnerability that you expose on the page. Once you learn how to write this way, you can apply it to any genre and achieve success. In this issue we explore journaling, from the history of journal writing to journaling for health and happiness. We also explore forms of memoir writing in depth, from personal essay writing and writing for Chicken Soup for the Soul to beginning your memoir and creating your narrative arc to bringing people in your memoir to life… MORE >>

Whether you are looking to boost your income or work on your craft, we know that education is an important part of a writer’s career. That’s why WOW! handpicks qualified instructors and targeted classes that women writers will benefit from. All of the courses operate online and are taught one-on-one with the instructor. The flexibility of the platform allows students to complete assignments on their own time and work at their own pace in the comfort of their own home. Visit the classroom page and check out our current line up of workshops: fiction writing, writing for children, screenwriting, creativity, memoir, personal essay, grammar, food writing, freelance writing, novel writing, finding a literary agent, blogging, social networking for authors… MORE >>

The results are in! After careful deliberation our honorable guest judge, literary agent Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency, has made her final decisions. Read the winning stories of the 750 words or less open prompt Winter ‘11 Flash Fiction Contest… MORE >>

Award-winning author and writing coach Adair Lara dares writers to shed their inhibitions. Then, Lara says, writers can construct a personal essay that gets to the very essence of the piece: the shared bond of humanity offering a confession that unites us all. Her latest book, Naked, Drunk, and Writing, pours through years of first-hand experience as an editor, writer, and writing coach and offers practical advice and exercises to spur writers through writing, revising, and publishing. Join WOW! columnist LuAnn Schindler and Adair Lara in an intimate conversation about personal essay writing… MORE >>

At memoir workshops and conferences, eager people with bright faces rush up and tell me about their personal stories. “I have to write this. I have to get it out of me!” Then, they get serious. “There’s so much to tell, I don’t know where to start!” I love hearing their juicy stories, but they have so many questions. Where should I begin? How can I decide how much to include? How do I know if my memories are accurate? What if my family disagrees with my memories? This article, by Linda Joy Myers, covers forming a story from your life, an excellent timeline exercise, themes in memoir, writing scenes, plot, narrative arc, and ultimately becoming heroines… MORE >>

Memoir is not as straight-forward as it appears at first glance. A common assumption is that memoir is something like a diary, a series of remembrances of what happened, presented in chronological order. In fact, for a memoir to be successful, it needs a narrative voice that examines a full range of what we experience and feel as human beings. To that end, the “I” in memoir is a literary device used to enhance and explore these complicated truths. Just as we are complex people in real life, we must be equally complex personas on the page—albeit artistically rendered. One way to accomplish this exploration of self is through the use one voice. Sue William Silverman shows us how… MORE >>

Too often, memoir writers think characters and character development are for fiction writers. After all, they are writing about real stories and don’t need to worry about describing the people. But quite the opposite is true. Memoir, perhaps even more than fiction, needs well-etched people. To help you write about people your readers will care about, Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett explore five dimensions of character—identity, description, demographic factors, psychographic attributes, and personality. By the time you complete the exercises in this article, you will have described one person in full… MORE >>

Since the time when humans first scratched out symbols and figures recording a successful hunt or an important journey on the walls of caves and the sides of mountains, writing has been personal. For women, through the ages, writing in a journal was a means to have a voice when silenced; a means to share their lives when no one was there; and a means to re-create themselves when they were stuck in a mold. This article, by Linda M. Rhinehart Neas, covers the history of journal writing, why women keep journals, enlightenment on the written page, healing with words, memories, ideas, wisdom, and writing to leave a legacy… MORE >>

Journaling helps us understand what’s really going on inside of us, so we can get past the baggage that we’ve been carrying around and experience our true, authentic, healthy self: the one that we came into this world with. In this article, journaling therapy specialist Mari L. McCarthy shows you how to start a healing journal for those with physical ailments, a grief journal for those that have lost a loved one, and a journal to help us make peace with the past… MORE >>

Linda Apple has the recipe for what it takes to get a personal essay published in the famous, Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She’s published stories in thirteen editions and teaches a workshop titled “Inspire! Writing from the Soul!” Her book by the same name also instructs writers on how to share themselves through personal writing. In this interview, conducted by Margo L. Dill, Linda shares some tried and true ingredients for cooking up a successful, soulful personal essay, as well as some other paying markets for this type of writing… MORE >>

Blogging is an essential part of a business platform, especially for a writer, because it showcases your work and is an essential part of the branding and marketing process. The problem that writers run into is how to create a blog that consistently attracts readers—both new and repeat. The key is to learn what makes a blog successful, so you can put it to work for your writing business. Marketing expert Kristie Lorette covers the characteristics of a successful blog, ways to attract more visitors, and the anatomy of a blog post… MORE >>

Can anyone really write a book in five days? Come along with Robyn Chausse to the Tom Bird Writing Retreat in beautiful Sedona, Arizona and discover… MORE >>