Howdy! Come on in.
What’s this Storybelly thing about?
Stories come from three places:
what we know (touch your head)
what we feel (tap your heart)
what we can imagine (pat your belly)
That’s where Storybelly comes in: all three of those places — what we know, what we feel, and what we can imagine — come together in the belly of our stories, our personal narratives, the stories only we can tell.
The moments of our lives, the memories we have of those moments, and the meaning we make from them — that’s Storybelly.
Sometimes easy, and sweet; sometimes hard, and sour. Sometimes startling, and scary… our stories make us who we are. Here’s who I am:
Six years old, picture day, Pearl Harbor Elementary School, Honolulu, Hawaii. Doesn’t that ask a question? I have a story…
All I do (ha) is take my life and turn it into stories. Here are some of them:
These are all stories that come out of my life. They started out as personal narrative and turned into fiction (well, most of them). I am convinced you have such stories of your own to tell! I know it from my 20-something years on the road, listening to you tell me your stories, watching you write them, workshop them, revise them, discover them, and help one another form supportive writing communities in classrooms, schools, and workshops, across the country, around the world:
I’ve been teaching writing for a long time, writing with all ages, all stages, all of us finding our Storybelly and getting our stories onto paper so they are saved, shared, and savored.
So… who are you, anyway, Deborah Wiles?
As I say at my website, I am a raconteur, a cake baker, weed puller, orchard tender, history geek, voter, citizen. I talk to plants, I built a pond, I treasure my family, I value home-making and nesting, I believe in the messy glory of everyday life.
I take that messy-glory life and turn it into stories, and I champion others as they do the same. Here at Storybelly, as you may have seen in my blogs, years ago (One Pomegranate — that was a looong time ago! — and Field Notes, a picture/story blog I kept for ten years), you’ll find me cataloguing my personal narrative: struggles in the garden, triumphs at the page, failures in the kitchen, wonders everywhere.
Tell me more! I’m listening… like Comfort does at the top of Listening Rock…
You may have been in one of my writing workshops or professional development presentations, as a student or teacher, librarian or bookseller, publisher or parent. I traveled the world teaching writing in schools, at conferences, workshops, and in colleges/universities, from elementary schools to high schools, from college students to seniors. I was an essayist first, for regional and national magazines, then a magazine editor, a freelance writer, an oral historian, a radio host, and a novelist. I’ve written picture books for youngest readers and documentary historical novels for all ages. You’ll find each of them here, and you can also read about them at my website.
Got any credentials? Won any awards?
(Always a question, lol):
I am a two-time National Book Award finalist (Revolution: 2014 and Each Little Bird That Sings: 2005), winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, the Golden Kite Award, the E.B. White Award, and I am an NAACP Book Award finalist, Jane Addams Peace Award finalist, and a purveyor of fine vowels. I hold an MFA in writing; I taught ECED422, Writing Techniques for Teachers, at Towson University, and I taught in the MFA programs at Lesley University and Vermont College.
WHAT ABOUT STORYBELLY?
Why should I subscribe??
Why indeed!
What you’ll find here at Storybelly are separate sections on many topics, almost all of them free to read with your subscription. You can read Storybelly as a newsletter in your email inbox when you sub, or on the webpage, where it will look like a blog post, or you can read it on the Substack app on your phone.
Here’s what you’ll find in a free subscription to Storybelly:
1) posts that connect you directly to Deborah Wiles books — to the characters, the settings, the history, the humor, the research — for those of you new to them, or reading them, or teaching them in classrooms at home or school, for those of you who want to chime in with your own experiences teaching Deborah Wiles books in the classroom.
2) occasional snippets from current works in progress and conversations about the struggles/triumphs in current writing.
3) interests that aren’t actual writing but that lead to or inform our writing, particularly in the kitchen, the garden, travel, film, books, other storytellers, home;
4) insights into my writing process and into teaching personal narrative writing… If you are reading or working with my books, particularly in a school setting, you’ll find lots that you can take to your students or staff here and include in an author study or a writing workshop of your own. It won’t take the place of my in-person professional development workshops, but it will give you more tools for your teaching toolbox.
All of the above is free content, you are welcome to join the conversation anywhere you feel led. This will be my main hub for all things Deborah Wiles going forward, a universe of our own creating that ignores algorithms and ads and just does our own thing.
I will revel in having you come with me as we delve into the art and arc of stories… and gardens and quilts and soup and rain and winter and family, and community, and justice, and social studies, American history, errant chickens, skinned knees, beloved dogs, home.. all the things I write about.
What if I want more than this?
What if I want to write that personal essay or vignette or start my memoir? Don’t you teach writing?
If you want more, welcome to the Storybelly Lab:
5) The Storybelly Lab is where we’ll work with writing personal narrative, focusing on voice, theme, details and description, structure and form, characterization and how personal narrative moves into fiction, poetry, personal essays and memoir, all in various formats… including individual coaching/critiquing if that’s your jam.
The Storybelly Lab hosts writing-rich posts, in a rotation: canon posts (what books have made you a writer and why/how?? I’ll share mine); in-depth research posts; work-in-progress posts; specific craft posts; and lots of discussion. Jump in where you want, with questions, comments, ideas. As a paid subscriber you can comment in both paid and free posts. You’ll get insight into my creative process and how I write, have a place to learn, develop, and hone the writing craft, and share your work with one another.
The Lab will have many elements including its own Chat that I’m trying to talk my Project Manager, Zach, into calling The Lab Coat Closet. Please tell him I have your vote! You can start chats of your own in the Lab Coat Closet. (The Coat Closet? Maybe we should wear dusters instead of lab coats.) Chat away. You’ll get to know your fellow writers this way, and their stories.
I hope the Lab will become home to the most warmhearted community of writers on the internet. A tall order? I think not. It *will be* that warmhearted community, for us! When we share our stories, in a safe space, with like-minded travelers, magic happens. Synergy happens. Trust me, I’ve witnessed it over and again. Hearts open. Memories walk in. Epiphanies bloom. Challenges march forth. Dragons are slain. Stories are born, the stars come out, and the earth revolves around the sun one more time. Good stuff.
How much will it cost me?
I’m glad you asked.
A free subscription is fabulous. Welcome! There is so much here for you.
If you want more, if you want to delve into writing more, the Storybelly Lab sub is $6/month or $55/year. Coaching/critiquing sessions are handled individually and are a separate cost.
There is also a Founding Member sub called “O Pioneers!” (thank you, Willa Cather, but I’ll bet you knew that) that supports me while I get Storybelly up and running. It’s $240 for the year. It includes everything Digest and Lab-related, as well as two one-hour individual writing consults or critiques in a year’s time.
Subscribe to The Storybelly Lab for a gift from Comfort Snowberger:
Monthly Subscribers get a signed postcard with the cover art from Each Little Bird That Sings. Annual Subscribers get a signed galley of Each Little Bird That Sings. Founding Members (O Pioneers!) receive a signed galley + a vintage merch pack from the book’s original launch. Don’t forget - Founding Membership includes two, one-hour individual writing consults or critiques.
We’ll figure it all out as we go along, I know. I’m mostly home from the road these days, with many writing projects on my plate as well. Your support keeps me writing, and teaching, and creating ways to share, from my writing studio to yours. Your faith in me (and in your own story) means so much, and I am determined to make sure Storybelly brings value to your days and is useful and meaningful. Thank you for joining me here.
No matter where you roam here at this newsletter, I want you to tell your story, whether you write it, paint it, draw it, sing it, dance it — whatever form it takes. Telling our stories is how we understand ourselves and how we change the world, a world that is hungry for the human story. For as long as we have been collectively alive on this planet, we have told stories. Before we even had words, we told stories — on the walls of caves, in the dirt, in the sun and stars, in stones and structures, in the food we prepare, the people we love, the struggles we live through.
I hope you’re encouraged to do just that - tell your story. There is lots to learn here at Storybelly about writing from your life, and I value your contribution. As I always say, I am lucky to hold your stories for even a short while; I learn as much as I teach. Welcome!
