TESTIMONIALS

Teacher, Editor, Writer

Packed with new ideas and deeply engaging, The Story Within inspires instructs, and entertains. Laura Oliver is an immensely talented writer, teacher, and storyteller. This book is fun to read and will make you a better writer. --Jon Franklin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Laura Oliver's stories are tightly constructed, understated, and nearly perfect. George Packer, The New Yorker.

I took a writing workshop last semester with Laura Oliver, Writing Life Stories.  I just wanted to let the program director(s) know how much I appreciated and valued Laura Oliver's course.  She is such a talented and insightful teacher of writing, and she was so well prepared and organized each week.  I learned so much!  As an instructor myself, I feel very fortunate to have had her as an instructor, and want to express my appreciation to St. John's College. Elizabeth Knutson, Professor Emeritas, U.S. Naval Academy

You have changed the way I look at life…my own, my children’s, my husband’s…and virtually everyone I see throughout my day! Thank you for this…you have a gift that you are passionate to share and I feel so fortunate that you have shared it with me! J.W., Annapolis, Workshop Participant

I found a voice I didn't know I had and I found the courage to use it. Laura's astute insights and suggestions took me beyond where I thought I could go." Camilla Schwarz, Annapolis, Workshop Participant

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Laura Oliver writes with enormous humanity, humor, and a truly keen eye for human emotion. When I read phrases such as our parents being "a choice the cosmos made" I realized I was in the confident hands of a true writer. I love the way she depicts parental love, parental anxiety, and many other things. I would love to see anything else that Laura Oliver writes. She works a territory that I'm very comfortable with and she brings her own considerable talent to this turf. Jane Rosenman, Executive Editor, Houghton Mifflin

The Story Within, New Insights and Inspiration for Writers: “Oliver's book manages to be simultaneously eloquent, no-nonsense, inspirational, funny, and loaded with truly practical ideas: tantalizing essay openings; cool things to put on a writer's desk; specific ways to make dialogue work better; useful instructions to give people you've asked to read your paragraphs.  I envy Oliver's students, who must thrive under her understanding and enthusiasm.  Cynthia Gorney, Graduate School of Journalism, U.C. Berkeley
The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic

Oliver’s fiction is “full of complexity, well-observed detail, and emotional force. Alice Mattison, novelist, former New Yorker contributor.

I did get to read Laura Oliver's stories. I think she is incredibly talented and was blown away by some of the crystalline sentences. I loved how she captured the mother/daughter relationships. They felt fresh and important. She sure can write. Shoemaker & Hoard, Publishers

More on The Story Within: "Blunt, witty, relentlessly honest about the hard simplicity of the writing craft, immensely useful, and startlingly thorough. As penetrating and stimulating a craft workbook as I have ever seen.”  Brian Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine

Laura Oliver is an extraordinarily gifted teacher and writer. She brings passion to her presentation, which inspires her students to explore  "the story within" and put it in words. Ms. Oliver shares her own stories with her students. One of her most captivating qualities is a wry sense of humor that makes every class a joyful experience. Mary Lou Baker, Annapolis, Maryland

Laura Oliver’s writing, whether fiction or personal essay, is well-crafted and deeply resonant. Laura is also a gifted and nurturing teacher. Her uncanny ability to identify the essence of a story, no matter how buried, is something all writers will find invaluable. If you have the chance to read Laura Oliver’s work, do it. If you have the chance to study with her, rush to do it. Lynn Schwartz, writing instructor, St. John's College

On behalf of the Annapolis Area Maryland Writers' Association, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your informative and sensitive presentation at Maryland Hall. The crowd loved you as well. You are so genuine and a great speaker. Joanne Alloway, Maryland Writers' Association

"Laura Oliver generously shares the tools with which to waken RipVan Winkle memories or to mine apparently insignificant everyday occurrences for gems. In her classes students find themselves creating veritable masterpieces." Henriette Leanos, St. John's College workshop participant

"As a writer and creative writing instructor myself, I find Laura Oliver's "The Story Within" to be a reader-friendly text that offers sound advice on a wide range of topics of concern to the creative writer, from how to establish a unique writing voice to how to deal with publishers. Perhaps most impressive is Oliver's ability to impart her knowledge of how to live the "writing life." Her personal anecdotes, while revealing and inspiring, are always rooted in the practical aspects of writing. A must-read for those who have entertained the idea of writing but find the process and craft daunting." Alan Elyshevitz, Assistant Professor of  English,  Community College of Philadelphia

Laura Oliver was my teacher and in this book, she captures what I loved best about her in that role. She blends qualities of humor, kindness, understanding of the writing process and great familiarity with all the demons that get in the way of that process. Her work here is important for the concrete techniques of getting the better of those demons but more significantly I think, is the way she makes you feel like you've internalized a friend, your better self that she shows you, again and again, is the one who made you want to write in the first place. Doris Kamenetz, writer, Park City, Utah

Bottom line, Oliver's new book is chock-full of practical advice for beginning, intermediate, and advanced writers, tempered with her trademark blend of deep compassion, psychological insight, razor-edged wit, and gentle humor. Oliver is not nearly as cantankerous or grotesque as O'Connor. She's also not nearly as neurotic or needy as Lamott - thank God. That's not a criticism of either O'Connor or Lamott, by the way. They are, after all, my first favorites. But if you are a writer who cares about the craft of writing, if you would like to hear it straight from someone who has done it well and who continues to share with others how it is done, then go get a copy of The Story Within. Do it now. To paraphrase Oliver from the end of her chapter on making time to write with all the interruptions that inevitably come with a full life: "Read the damn book." And then, go write one. It is, in the end, the thing that matters most." Daniel Wolf, M.D.

I want to say how fantastic your book is!  Reading it made me feel I was back at Bennington.  You come so beautifully off the page with all your humor, wit, wisdom, personableness, sage advice, encouragement.  Your voice is really great - a perfect blend of professionalism and friendliness, inspiration and practicality - I love it.  I've read a lot of writing books, and yours is right up there.  Fresh spins on a lot of writerly craft and writerly dilemmas.  Great job, I loved reading and rereading it. It's such a generous, thoughtful, smart book! Linda Woolford, MFA, writer, workshop instructor

Throughout The Story Within, Oliver shows the craft point in such a way that the words on the page are experienced, not solely read. I laughed, cried, was surprised, curious and as each chapter drew me deeper and deeper in, the voice in my head whispered "ah ha, I can use this." If you read only one craft book this year, this is the one to read. It is a roller coaster of emotion, truth, inspiration, and permission beneficial to anyone traversing the path of writer and especially for the dreaming of becoming or the emerging writer. Victoria Hudson, writer, teacher

This is truly one of the best "how to write" books I have read. Full of anecdotes and sensible advice, this will kick start that writing project you have put off because you were just too damned scared to start. Carolyn Sullivan, workshop participant

Many how-to-write books have been published in the last 30 years and I believe I've read most of them but none were as effective as Oliver's book in demonstrating inspired writing and inspired insights about writing. She doesn't just tell you how to do it she shows you the transformative power of fine writing by letting flow her own unique voice and never letting it waver or diminish in potency.
If you think you have a story to tell but don't know how to tell it, or you wish you had a story to tell but think you do not, there is something in The Story Within for you. Sharon Wolf    

When I was writing my memoir, I wasn’t sure anyone but a grandson decades from now would ever read it.  Sharing such an intensely personal story with anyone was daunting.  I was still suffering the stigma of my son’s addiction and fearful of the story’s impact on our family, let alone my son.  Laura Oliver was not only the best advisor to be a first reader, but she was someone I instinctively trusted with all these fears.  It was her sensitive, intuitive and highly instructive guidance that helped shape the book, and, ultimately, led to its publication by Apprentice House Press last year.  Without Laura, Secret No More would still be a manuscript in a bottom drawer. Lisa Hillman, author

Beautifully written, honest and funny, Ms. Oliver's book is as much a guide for readers as it is for writers. My well-annotated copy will live on my nightstand long after I land my book contract or, alternatively, long after I am disabused of the notion I can write. The Story Within is about the beauty and wonder and heartbreak of living. Ms. Oliver provides inspiration and specific direction in savoring and sharing that experience.
Oh, and did I mention it's funny? Christe Spiers 

The Story Within has been a huge help to me recently. My progress on the sequel to Code Word Paternity had slowed to a crawl and I was really struggling. I decided to re-read your book and bingo—Chapter Five, Navigating a Story got me going again. Among other things, I realized I was trying to stick to a map instead of following the story’s own momentum. Now I’m open to diversions and thoughts and words are flowing again.  Doug Norton

"Wow, just wow. Your workshops are practical, inspiring, so helpful.”
Annie McKenzie

"Thank you for such quick feedback. I so appreciate how kind you are in your critique. It is a gift that you have to present a realistic picture with hope."
Tina Hudak,  editorial client

"I must tell you how many books I have on my shelf by authors – Zinsser, Caro, McPhee – and they did not give such marvelous advice and tips as you did on Saturday!!" 
Elaine Anderson (setting workshop participant)

"Fabulous writing prompts, all of them inspiring! You are always so well-prepared, organized, full of examples and a delight to listen to."
Ann Stewart (Your True Voice workshop participant.)

"Your help has been essential to my growth as a writer."
Barrie Zucal, coaching client.

“You have a laser focus that illustrates the difference between good writing and meaningful, connecting writing. You mine for gold.
Gina W. (coaching client, workshop participant)