On Rejection, Mira Bartók
Jul19

On Rejection, Mira Bartók

  Fear of Rejection from: “How I Became the Grant Queen and How You Can Too” by Mira Bartók The fear of being rejected prevents a lot of women from applying for opportunities out there. This phobia reminds me about that old song we sang in the schoolyard when we were kids. I loved it because it was so gross and everyone who knows me knows that trapped inside this 48-year-old woman’s body is a twelve-year-old boy dying to put a...

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Straight Talk about Grants

At AROHO, we want to help you become your best writer, and we believe the Gift of Freedom Application can help uncover some of the obstacles on the path to personal breakthrough and creative “success.” Here are our tips for helping you make the most of the application and for helping improve the chances of your submissions in general. Hygiene (For highly creative women, this is often the area where mistakes are made) The...

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“Pull the Lever!” An AROHO Anthem by Lauren Baldwin
Jul19

“Pull the Lever!” An AROHO Anthem by Lauren Baldwin

Lauren Baldwin completed her MFA in Fiction at Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2010 and her JD at the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1992. She is a Judicial Hearing Officer in the Family Court division of the Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lauren has attended every AROHO retreat since its inception and is the retreat’s hospitality coordinator (the woman with wine and duct tape). She is a...

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“Self-Doubt, Sacred Drift, and Submissions,” Melita Schaum
Jul17

“Self-Doubt, Sacred Drift, and Submissions,” Melita Schaum

Melita Schaum won the fall 2010 A Room of Her Own Foundation’s prestigious Orlando Prize in Creative Nonfiction, an honor that—in addition to providing $1000 and publication in The Los Angeles Review–earned her a Pushcart Prize nomination. What is she doing right? A Room of Her Own got the inside scoop, as well as an audio clip from her recent ventures into the world of mixed media and sound arts.   Melita Schaum is an English...

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Fall 2011 eMessage Winners

AIMEE ANDERSON Printed with permission by Aimee Anderson, copyrighted by Aimee Anderson @ 2011 This, our writing, is not for our to-do-lists. We wake up and write and sleep and write. If we are writers, we do not forget.   STEFFI DREWES Printed with permission by Steffi Drewes, copyrighted by Steffi Drewes @ 2011 Lovelorn honeybee repeat after me: blushing builds no bravery   to strut is not the same as dirty sea legs nor...

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Fall 2011 Orlando Poetry Prize Finalist Excerpts

LAURA DAVENPORT, “IN A NASHVILLE LIQUOR STORE, I REALIZE I DON’T LOVE YOU” Three days after New Year’s, we are buying champagne. I watch you pull from a pocket the cash you made tonight. Enough for a bottle and a six pack, enough to drink ourselves to sleep. We have come from a party where the room unspooled, a girl collapsed on the sofa gripping a fifth of whiskey. Legs flung wide, her skirt rode up around her thighs, exposing...

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“The Dream” by ire’ne Lara Silva
Jun22

“The Dream” by ire’ne Lara Silva

The Dream is this: a balanced life—a happy, loving partner/family; a long, healthy life; abundant economic resources; a lengthy career filled with accomplishments and awards; acknowledged ‘mastery’ of your chosen art;  and a harmoniously serene mind and heart to enjoy it all. In reality, we are more likely fragmented and struggling—always spread too thin, always juggling more priorities than we can handle, always trying to carve out...

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“Virginia Woolf and a River,” by Florencia Ramirez
Jun22

“Virginia Woolf and a River,” by Florencia Ramirez

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write,” wrote Virginia Woolf. She described this as the “great problem.” Thirteen years ago, two women, within a canyon of red stone and brush, each with copies of Virginia Woolf’s book, “A Room of Her Own,” conspired to bring together a community of women writers (a room) and a vision to finance creative expression with literary awards (money). Two years ago, I entered the...

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