Sheila Bender

I am the publisher of an online writing magazine, Writing It Real, a site for which I teach online writing classes; I am also director of the annual Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writers' Conference.

I have been writing seriously since 1975 and have taught writing since 1980. I published my first book about writing (Writing in a Convertible with the Top Down) in 1991 and have continued since then writing and publishing my poetry (Sustenance: New and Selected Poems), reviews (in Poet Lore, The Seattle Times and The World), and articles (Writer's Digest Magazine and The Writer), as well as producing and publishing many more books on writing, including Writing and Publishing Personal Essays.

My essays and poems appear online and in numerous North American literary magazines and anthologies including Poetry Northwest, The Seattle Review, The Bellingham Review, Tiny Lights, and Tidepools among others. My newest book, Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays, is published by McGraw-Hill.