David W. Berner, The Writer Shed

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Stretching Your Creative Life

And now for a little music. I’ve been a musician most of my life. Sometimes a dedicated one. Other times not. When I practice, I’m a solid guitarist who can accompany a singer with rhythm and picking. I’m decent on the piano. Self-taught mostly. But on either of these instruments…

4 min read

4 min read

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The Writer Shed

·Nov 26

The Smallest Things

Writing about the tiny moments in a life Whenever I teach a memoir class, many students wonder aloud about whether their subjects, their themes, their stories are too narrow, small, mundane. They must be big, fantastical, unusual…right? No, they don’t. Personal narrative, when it makes the most impact, is many…

Writing

3 min read

Writing

3 min read

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The Writer Shed

·Oct 16

Growth as a Writer

When your progress is out in the open for all to see The other day I read a published Q-and-A with Pulitzer Prize winner novelist Jane Smiley. She was asked: Why do novelists get better with age? Her answer was that you must learn how to be a novelist and…

Writing

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Writing

3 min read

Published in

The Writer Shed

·Oct 1

Life These Days

A stretch of creativity comes to fruition Pushing yourself creatively is not about perfection. It’s about process, spirit, and sharing. As a writer and teacher, I have always considered the creative process to be a journey. There is no endgame. There’s no perfection, completion, or some fully satisfying end. Creativity…

Songs

2 min read

Songs

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Published in

The Writer Shed

·Sep 27

Do You Identify as a Writer?

The danger of a one-dimensional creative life If you write, you’re a writer. If you publish, that’s wonderful. But if you write and share it somehow, you’re a writer. (Sharing is important. It’s part of the creative process.) Poetry. Stories. Lyrics. You’re a writer. I have always believed this. Publishing…

Writing

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Writing

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Published in

The Writer Shed

·Aug 28

Need a Boost to Write that Story?

The School of Joyful Writing I teach classes on memoir and I recently had a student ask why it was so hard to write about yourself. This student is a good writer, had been a journalist, and a corporate marketing specialist, knows her way around a good sentence. …

Memoir Writing Workshop

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Memoir Writing Workshop

2 min read

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The Writer Shed

·Jul 19

Learning from the Beats

What the Beat writers taught us about good writing Even after the unmistakable cultural mark the Beat artists have left on the world. some critics still see them as unsophisticated bums. The criticism was inevitable. They fought conventions. That never goes smoothly. But over the years, those criticisms have softened…

Jack Kerouac

3 min read

Jack Kerouac

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Published in

The Writer Shed

·Jul 12

The Truth About Memoir

Tell it like it is, or was, or something reasonably close In writing my personal narratives — my memoirs or essays — I have worked hard to mine my past, to check and double-check, to cross-reference with family and friends, to research and research again in an effort to produce…

Memoir

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Memoir

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The Writer Shed

·Jul 5

When an Indie Publisher Goes Silent

The personal story of two books and a runaway publishing company THIS STORY INCLUDES AN UPDATE 8/4/23 This is my story. No one else’s but mine. Many other authors have similar ones, but I do not claim to be able to tell their stories. My story is about two books…

Publishing

5 min read

Publishing

5 min read

Published in

The Writer Shed

·Jun 26

The Poetry of Time

Using instant poetry to mark your steps in the world I tried something new. On a recent trip to Ireland, Wales, and England, I set down to write a daily poem. You might call the collection a kind of dairy in verse. Many of us keep travel journals when we…

Poetry

3 min read

Poetry

3 min read