The Fire Inside

Overview

Wherever one may be in the creative life—just tiptoeing in or fully immersed—The Fire Inside will be a companion in that life, as a source of encouragement and continual inspiration

Few books on creativity are so inclusive and welcoming as this book, offering insight not only for furthering one's abilities in the traditional arts, but also in the day-to-day creativity which so enriches our lives. Based on the authors' combined fifty-five years of teaching and presenting workshops on writing and creativity, The Fire Inside is written in a spirit of warmth and generosity. It invites the reader to say yes to creativity, choose to live a bigger life, and discover how "the magic" happens.

Reviews

On Writing in Community: "These writers have great authority and expertise on this topic. They write ideas that are fresh and new with profound potential for empowering readers as well as writers, connecting them with their honest, authentic peers" —Mary Pipher, author of The Green Boat and Writing to Change the World  

On Two-Toned Dress: "Two-Toned Dress shows us good times, times of abundance, but does not shy away from showing the lonely times. Dig in! This well-crafted collection expertly deals with relationships, and does so with beautiful honesty. This poet helps us to remember our own times of being in love and leads us toward a compassionate view of others, including our parents, who have also known what it is to negotiate what life throws at us" —Marjorie Saiser, author of Learning to Swim

Author Biography

Lucy Adkins earned her MFA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is a writer of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies, and her first poetry chapbook, One Life Shining, was published by Pudding House Press. She co-presents the Nebraska Humanities program "Diaries and Letters of Early Nebraska Settlers," and is a frequent writing instructor for OLLI, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and the Larksong Writers' Workshops. Becky Breed, a veteran educator, poet, and essayist, co-wrote and facilitated "Women at the Springs," a Nebraska Humanities program empowering women to act and live more courageously, as well as "The Intergenerational Project" connecting elders and teens through stories to promote communication, writing, and use of the media. She has an Ed.D. in Education, and in addition to teaching at the university level, has been a principal at an alternative high school.