If you are like me, you know in your bones that these times call for much inspiration and fortification! So please do whatever you can to support independent, collective, human-scale publishing, and eschew the monsters of big capitalism!
Head over to the Literary Kitchen’s Underground Book Shelter to purchase fabulous, unique, humanity-expanding books.
WANT TO HAVE SOME FUN? Please join me on Sunday, July 28, from 3-5pm, at the Emporium! I will read new stories and then lead an (optional) activity or two from Dear Inner Critic: a self-doubt activity book. Books will be available for purchase.
My latest essay, “You Never Know: On Memory and Memoir and Packing Light,” is now online at Reading and Traveling. This piece is among the fabulous Dispatches from Utopia that we Wayward Writers wrote at (or after) camp in the Catskills in April 2024.
My piece centers on the gap-filled memories of the 1972 inaugural Rainbow Family Gathering, which I attended when I was five, with my young parents.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity and space (at the Mutual Aid Society in the Catskills, a new utopia forged by Adrian Shirk and others) to unearth & investigate these bits of light, and grateful to Ariel Gore and the amazing, badass campers for their curiosity, hearts, and willingness to play.
Dear Everbody, Great news! Dear Inner Critic: a self-doubt activity book is now available! Read more about why you will want this book. Learn how to buy online at Literary Kitchen, or visit the independent stores mentioned below. Love, Rebecca
You’re invited to play! Devote 30 days to creative freedom; unlock the long con of confidence; and dissolve self-doubt.
Even if you’ve been living with insecurity all your life, today can be different. This book offers a flashlight to guide you through the wilds of self-doubt. Between these covers you’ll find fun and creative strategies to quiet your negative self-talk.
You’ll write, draw, imagine, demystify—and maybe even befriend—the inner critic. You’ll set boundaries and gain room for creativity and joy. Using ingenuity and self-care, these activities let you play your way toward creative liberation.
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Praise for DEAR INNER CRITIC: a self-doubt activity book: “Rebecca Kuder writes magical fiction and memoir with a voice so confident and agile, you’d never imagine she struggled with an inner critic. When I heard that she was not only well acquainted with self-doubt but had found ways to befriend it and play with it to the benefit of her art and happiness, I knew I wanted in on the secrets. This guide is a gift. Let Rebecca Kuder’s genius guide you to ignite your own.”
—Ariel Gore, author of The Wayward Writer (Summon Your Power to Take Back Your Story, Liberate Yourself from Capitalism, and Publish Like A Superstar)
In 2023, I took a fabulous year-long online writing class with Ariel Gore called Mavens of Mythmaking. Some highlights:
I completed a short story collection called What To Keep, for which I am seeking a publisher.
I finished a full revamp/revision of my novel The Watery Girl. This year, I will seek publication.
The memoir about my childhood home continues to emerge and evolve—in fragments and fractals—which, I am learning, is how this thing is meant to be written. Some day it will be a book.
My newest book,Dear Inner Critic: a self-doubt activity book, grew from years of renegotiating my relationship with the inner critic. Many readers have attended workshops and reframed self-doubt with me. Thanks for your good company! (Who knew a handful of tricks would grow into a real book?!)
This book is built from L-O-V-E. My keenest hope is that it will help people free the creative urge. (If I have anything to offer humanity, this book is it.)
On the journey toward creative liberation, I have trodden this self-doubt path myself. The tricks in this book have changed my life.
Soon, Dear Inner Critic will be available from the Literary Kitchen (literarykitchen.org). Please subscribe to my blog or follow my instagram for more information.
This was accidental—I had been working on the memoir about my burned-down house (318) and used a prompt from Ariel Gore‘s literary kitchen. (Ariel sends fabulous weekly prompts. You can subscribe here.) The prompt asked us to write about a place that scared us. Because the prompt called for dialogue, I wrote some dialogue. After I finished and exhaled, I looked at the page and thought, “Is this a play?” A play—shaped on the page—would fit in the memoir. I’m allowing many & various forms/containers for the work.
My undergraduate degree is in theater, but never had I written a play.
Then I noticed that the Yellow Springs Theater Company was seeking plays for their 10-minute play festival. Hmm…so with feedback from some smart and wise friends, I buffed the thing and sent it in. The play (called “Dust”) was accepted. And because the YSTC invites writers to do as much as they want with the production, I also decided to direct and act in the play. (It has been a long while. I am working with two wonderful actors as I re-learn how to do theater.)
Want to join us?
WHEN: June 3 & 4, at 7pm
WHERE: Yellow Springs High School lawn (420 E. Enon Road, Yellow Springs, 45387)
Rebecca Kuder 