writers’ groups – Janet Ruth Heller

Forthcoming Poems in MockingHeart Review and American Writers Review

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:May 23, 2022
Post category:Creative Writing Poetry Published Poetry

Two different literary journals have recently published or accepted my poems. Editor-in-Chief Tyler Robert Sheldon of MockingHeart Review just published “Packages and Gifts.” Poetry Editor Wayne Benson, Editor D. Ferrara, and Founder Patricia A. Florio will publish my poem “Leaving Our First Home” in an issue of American Writers Review with the theme of “The End or the Beginning.” I recently revised both of these poems with the help of my Writers Group. The webpage of MockingHeart Review with my poem is https://mockingheartreview.com/volume-7-issue-2/poetry/janet-ruth-heller/ , and the website of American Writers Review is https://www.americanwritersreview.com/ #poetry #literaryjournal #writersgroup #revision Janet Ruth Heller reading her poetry at the Kalamazoo Public Library; photo by Hedy Habra

In Praise of Writing Critique Groups

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:August 8, 2014
Post category:Advice for Writers

I joined my first critique group for writers when I lived in Chicago in the 1970s and 1980s. I had met the other members of my group when we all co-edited the literary journal Primavera. We did not have time during our editorial staff meetings to discuss one another’s creative writing. So five of us started a monthly evening workshop just for our own work. These meetings motivated us to do at least some new writing every month. We gave constructive feedback to everyone, which we found helpful and encouraging. (more…)

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I love books by British writers P. D. James, Seamus Heaney, S. T. Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Judy Blume, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Jim Daniels, Mong-Lan, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Gail B. Griffin, Jerry Spinelli, Jane Yolen, Kathryn Erskine, Gary D. Schmidt, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marge Piercy, Grace Paley, Alicia Ostriker, Jaimy Gordon; South African writer Athol Fugard;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon; and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico García Lorca, Ruben Darío, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Dámaso Alonso.

I also love Japanese haiku, especially those by Matsuo Bashō.

My writing has been influenced by many other authors, including British writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon, and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico Garcia Lorca, Ruben Dario, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillen, Pedro Salinas, and Damaso Alonso.