Writing and Publishing Personal Essays

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Product Reviews

(2 stars) - If you've never taken freshman comp
This would be a great book for a freshman composition class, or for someone with zero experience writing. It's not a bad book, I was just looking for something more advanced. I've since learned of the existance of Phillip Lopate.

(5 stars) - One of the best on personal essay writing
Sheila Bender's wise and patient voice inspires and educates the new essayist but also jumpstarts those who've been writing essays for a while (and might feel stalled). Bender's real affection for the essay saturates every page of this helpful book. She clearly respects the genre and has made significant contributions to it. As a memoir and personal essay workshop instructor, I am pleased to add this book to my list of recommended titles.

(5 stars) - Right In Your Living Room
This book is like having the master teacher, Sheila Bender, in your own living room (or whatever places you write). In her smart and kind way, she guides as she does in her workshops.

If you want to write better, regardless of how you write now, this book is bound to unbind your next layer of talent.

(5 stars) - Writing Personal Essays
I'll confess right up front that Sheila Bender's latest book, "Writing and Publishing Personal Essays," contains my essay "Dreams of Going." But even if that hadn't been the case, I would still highly recommend it. In addition to being an excellent poet and essay writer, Sheila is also a wonderful teacher - I know because I've attended a number of her classes. Written in her kind yet informative style, this book is a printed version of what you would learn in one of her workshops.

Did you ever have a writing or English teacher who demolished your writing, leading you to give up any dreams you had of becoming a published writer or of ever writing creatively at all? Sheila is the antithesis of that teacher. She doesn't believe in criticism, even the "constructive" kind. Instead, she offers a three-step method of review (Velcro words, feelings, and curiosity) that gently leads the writer to new discoveries.

In "Writing and Publishing Personal Essays," Sheila devotes a chapter apiece to eight different kinds of personal essays, provides examples from a number of writers, and then comments about what makes each essay good and perhaps how it could be made better, using her three steps. She also explains how to find material from your own life to write about, how to most effectively shape it into an essay, and even how to look for someone to publish it, if that's your aim.

If you've ever yearned to shape your life experiences for the page and to find the deeper meaning in them, get this book. Follow its suggestions, and you'll learn the craft of writing personal essays. You won't find a better teacher than Sheila.

(5 stars) - Writing & Publishing Personal Essays
Sheila Bender's updated and extended edition of Writing and Publishing Personal Essays includes solid instructional information and writing exercises for the beginning writer and the published writer. Chapters start with a "write question." For example, The Description Essay chapter begins with "Write Question #1: For what, person, place, event, or object do I have strong feelings of love or of hate?" She explains the elements of good description essays, provides examples, notes why an essay works well, and guides the reader through effective exercises to discover material for their essays. Her positive tone and nurturing approach helped me develop drafts and then polish them into publishable essays by following her three-step response and revision method. Work your way through this book and you'll be ready for Chapters XI and XII, Prepare the Fruit for Market, and Trucking the Fruit to Market.

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