Happy New Year, Readers!

So many new readers have begun following Writing Is My Drink in the last month that I wanted to post a special welcome to you and to share some Writing Is My Drink news with all you long timers as well.

The blog Writing Is My Drink began in 2010. I wanted to write about writing, but not in a general way. As a memoir writing instructor (for the University of Washington’s Professional and Continuing Education department), I had become very interested in the experience of the emerging writer and the process of finding your voice as a writer. So along with posts that offer writing advice and author interviews, I began writing about my formative experiences as a writer here under the category Theo Finding her Voice.

A year or so later, I had the idea to write a book based on the stories I was writing about in those early posts (taking a class from Frank McCourt, getting over my biggest block ever, to name a few of the experiences). And so Writing Is My Drink: A Writer’s Story of Finding Her Voice (And a Guide to How You Can Too) was born and is now–thanks to Simon & Schuster- for sale in bookstores and online. Yay! Writing Is My Drink offers a more in-depth version of my story of coming into myself as a writer and also writing activities designed to help you to discover your own voice. Here’s a link to a new review of the book on Shelf Awareness.

Other resources for new and established readers of Drink:

• If you’re new to the blog and to writing, you might want to read the posts in the Emerging Writers’ Series.
• Or read my post “Find Your Writer’s Voice in 2014” on Huffington Post.
• Want to read posts from my readers and students? Try the 26-Minute Memoirs or Triptychs.
• You might want to listen to this podcast with the faculty of Bird by Bird & Beyond and myself with Linda Joy Meyers of the National Association of Memoir Writers about writing personal narrative:http://lindajoy.audioacrobat.com/download/Birdbybirdfacultypodcast.mp3
• You may want to know that I host events for emerging writers that focus on craft,
  

  Theo with Cheryl Strayed at Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat.

  community and inspiration such as Wild Mountain Memoir Retreat with Cheryl Strayed and Black Mesa Writers’ Intensive with Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg.

• You might even want to come to my event Bird by Bird & Beyond with Anne Lamott (a rare chance to hear her talk to writers about writing) on January 18th in Petaluma, CA. Details here!
• Or read my post The Five Things Anne Lamott Taught Me on SheWrites.
• You can check out my other upcoming events here.
• I hope you will follow me on Facebook.
• Or follow me on twitter @theopnestor.

So welcome all you new followers and thank you to all you loyal readers from years gone by, and a happy new year to you all! Let’s have a great year of writing, community, and inspiration in 2014!

Love,

Theo