Barbara Shoup

Fueled by an insider's view of Indiana and the state's often surprising connections to the larger world, IN Writing is revelatory. It is Indiana in all its glory: sacred and profane; saints and sinners; war and peace; small towns and big cities; art, architecture, poetry and victuals. It's about Hoosier talent and Hoosier genius: the courageous farmer-soldiers who ardently try to win the hearts and minds of 21st century Afghan insurgents; the artisans whose work pulses with the aesthetics of far-away homelands; and the famous modernist poet who had to leave to make his mark. It's about places that speak to a wider world: Columbus and its remarkable architecture; New Harmony and its enduring idealism; Indianapolis and its world-renowned Crown Hill cemetery. IN Writing makes visible the unexpected bonds between Indiana and the world at large.

Grace Lowery is a typical Midwestern American teenager: pretty, smart, a good student from what is, to all appearances, an average, middle-class, single-parent home. There's just one difference: A series of bad decisions involving her wealthy, charming-but-irresponsible boyfriend has landed her in the state juvenile correction facility for girls.Thus begins About Grace, a unique coming-of-age story in which a young woman deals with the consequences of her actions-and sees how those consequences are different for people living more and less privileged lives. Grace is forced to reckon with the harsh reality of the juvenile carceral system, the people she meets there, and her complicated feelings for the boy whose influence led her to this place. More important-and challenging-Grace begins to remember and unpack a history of childhood abuse at the hands of a trusted adult. It's a journey to self-awareness under harsh and unanticipated conditions, shocking revelations-and surprising friendships.About Grace is a rare young adult novel that handles difficult and sometimes shocking subject matter with compassion, insight, and a touch humor.

Grace Lowery is a typical Midwestern American teenager: pretty, smart, a good student from what is, to all appearances, an average, middle-class, single-parent home. There's just one difference: A series of bad decisions involving her wealthy, charming-but-irresponsible boyfriend has landed her in the state juvenile correction facility for girls.Thus begins About Grace, a unique coming-of-age story in which a young woman deals with the consequences of her actions-and sees how those consequences are different for people living more and less privileged lives. Grace is forced to reckon with the harsh reality of the juvenile carceral system, the people she meets there, and her complicated feelings for the boy whose influence led her to this place. More important-and challenging-Grace begins to remember and unpack a history of childhood abuse at the hands of a trusted adult. It's a journey to self-awareness under harsh and unanticipated conditions, shocking revelations-and surprising friendships.About Grace is a rare young adult novel that handles difficult and sometimes shocking subject matter with compassion, insight, and a touch humor.

"A book that should be on every writer's bookshelf, next to Bird by Bird, Writing Down the Bones, and Welty's One Writer's Beginnings." -SJ Rozan, best-selling author of Paper Son For writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, autobiography and memoir, and from amateurs to professionals, this book about the creative process is a book for writers everywhere interested in learning more about the craft of writing. A perfect gift for writers of all ages and levels of experience, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life takes the reader from the author's childhood dream of being a writer through the ups and downs of publishing. She tells her story with highly relatable vignettes that focus on her own personal moments of clarity about what writing is (and what writing isn't), sharing the pleasures and lessons of more than 40 years of experience teaching writing. Part memoir and part writing workshop, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life offers writing inspiration and practical advice for authors at every stage of their writing journey. This collection of 37 essays includes: Chasing the Muse But That's How It Happened What We Talk About When We Talk About Writing Working (a Jigsaw) The Voices in My Head (Maybe) Don't Quite Your Day Job The Revision Toolkit and much more With short, easy to read chapters, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life will inspire veteran authors as well as beginning writers just getting started. And when writing is especially difficult, or when writer's block sets in, award-winning author Barbara Shoup is full of encouraging wisdom. A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life is for anyone who understands that writing isn't just a hobby... It's a necessary part of living fully.

The Asante Children's Theatre's "WORD DANCE: A Family Writing Project" engaged twenty-one African-Americans representing eight families. They met weekly for thirteen weeks to share an evening meal, talk, laugh, recharge after a busy day and build their family bonds by writing about their lives. These are their stories.

While reluctantly accompanying her husband and daughter to freshman orientation at Indiana University, Nora Quillen hears someone call her name, a name she has not heard in more than 25 years. Not even her husband knows that back in the '60s she was Jane Barth, a student deeply involved in the antiwar movement. An American Tune moves back and forth in time, telling the story of Jane, a girl from a working-class family who fled town after she was complicit in a deadly bombing, and Nora, the woman she became, a wife and mother living a quiet life in northern Michigan. An achingly poignant account of a family crushed under the weight of suppressed truths, now available as a Break Away Book Club Edition, An American Tune illuminates the irrevocability of our choices and how those choices come to compose the tune of our lives.

Novel Ideas provides a substantial introduction to the elements of fiction followed by in-depth interviews with successful novelists who speak with candor and insight into the complex process by which a novel is made. This edition includes new and updated interviews as well as writing exercises to enhance its use in the writing classroom.Dorothy Allison recalls "deliciously self-indulgent" days of writing in her bathrobe, wrapped in misery and exultation; Peter Cameron explains how he made the move from short fiction to the novel with the aid of a music composer's notebook to track the movement of his characters. Writers as different as Ha Jin, Jill McCorkle, Richard Ford, and Michael Chabon describe their unique approaches to their work while consistently affirming the necessity of committing to the hard effort of it while also remaining open to surprise.Aspiring novelists will find hands-on strategies for beginning, working through, and revising a novel; accomplished novelists will discover new ways to solve the problems they face in process; and serious readers of contemporary fiction will enjoy a glimpse into the way novels are made.Includes interviews with:Dorothy AllisonLarry BrownPeter CameronMichael ChabonMichael CunninghamRobb Forman DewRichard FordHa JinPatricia HenleyCharles JohnsonWally LambValerie MartinJill McCorkleSena Jeter NaslundLewis NordanSheri ReynoldsS. J. RozanJane SmileyLee SmithTheodore Weesner