Wendy E. Braun – This Existence

Though I cannot remember a time when I have not been enamored with the craft of writing, there have been years in which fear has inhibited my ability to share my artistic voice with others. As a child, I struggled with understanding grammatical rules and was repeatedly embarrassed by my struggles with spelling. However, as an adult, I have found myself writing for various forums over the years.

I am the founder of A Community of Stories, which was a writers’ workshop event that engaged a diverse spectrum of writers from the surrounding community, breaking down socioeconomic and social divides through the art and craft of storytelling from 2013-2018. While I love to teach, I also love to learn and have earned an M.F.A. in Poetry from Antioch University in 2014, a M.Ed. in English from Xavier University in 2011, and a B.F.A. in Theatre with a minor in World Religions from Malone College in 2001.

I believe that the driving purpose behind the writer is to see the messages that surface through our experiences in this life and then to present those revelations and reflections to others. Yet, I also believe that it is quite a bit more than that. Writing is an exchange in which the writer reveals something, which will be passed onto the reader who shapes a new meaning, possibly deeper and with more clarity than the writer could. In this way, written works are like letters tied to balloons, carried on the wind, until they land in the hands of those who are looking for the meaning.