Acknowledgements.- Writing
Considerations (Writing Is).- Writing Is.- Questions and Exercises for Your
Writing Practice.- Form and Structure (Scaffolding & Mortar).- Scaffolding
& Mortar.- Questions and Exercises for Your Writing Practice.- Craft and
Process (Now & Later).- Now & Later.- Questions and Exercises for Your
Writing Practice.- Audience, Persona and Point of View (The Point of You).- The
Point of You.- Voice: That Thing with Which We Sing.- Persona: Which You Are
You?.- Point of View: To See from Here.- Questions and Exercises for Your
Writing Practice.- Ethics and the Personal (Dialogue & Consequences).- Ethics
and the Personal: An Interactive Model.- Dialogue & Consequences.- Questions
and Exercises for Your Writing Practice.- Incorporating Research into Writing
(Writing=Research=Writing).- Writing=Research=Writing.- Research as Veracity,
Interest, and Form.- Questions and Exercises for Your Writing Practice.- Epilogue.-
References.- About the Authors.

The Teaching Writing series publishes
user-friendly writing guides penned by authors with publishing records in their
subject matter. Through detailed exercises, exemplars, and a breakdown of the
key elements and considerations of personal writing, Faulkner and Squillante
provide a lively introduction and guide for writers to the art and craft of
personal writing. Their conversational tone about audience, point of view,
form, structure, ethics, research, and finding and making time for writing
practice is a not-to-miss primer and reference. This book is appropriate for
classes focused on poetry, creative nonfiction, ethnography, qualitative
research, memoir, narrative inquiry, and other types of life writing, as well
as individual writers honing their craft. Writing the Personal invites us all
to find our stories and instructs us how to shape them for an audience and for
ourselves.

"Writing the Personal is the ideal book for anyone
interested in exploring his or her life through writing. It is a must-read for
any writer serious about deepening her understanding of craft." - Kate
Hopper, author of Ready for Air and Use Your Words and co-author of Silent
Running

"A focus on techniques makes this a useful book
to read straight through or equally to dip in and out of according to your
personal tastes. However you come to the recipes offered in this clever
cookbook, you're sure to enjoy the feast inside." - Stacy Holman Jones and Anne
Harris, co-authors of Writing for Performance

"Faulkner and Squillante seamlessly collaborate
to each bring their unique and varied writing backgrounds and academic
credentials to this text to create a unique and invaluable book." - Bernadette
Marie Calafell, University of Denver, author of Monstrosity, Performance and
Race in Contemporary Culture

"Faulkner and Squillante are skillful, honest,
and generous teachers of the craft." - Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful
Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life

"In this innovative and inspiring book, Faulkner
and Squillante offer practical advice about writing personal stories." - Tony
E. Adams, Northeastern Illinois University

Sandra L. Faulkner teaches,
writes poetry, and researches about close relationships at Bowling Green State
University in NW Ohio.

Sheila Squillante is a poet and essayist living
in Pittsburgh and teaching in the MFA program at Chatham University.