Welcome to Ill-Behaved Women, created by author and story coach L.L. Kirchner.
Join 1600+ storytellers in a vibrant online community.
Let’s get into it.
Why Ill-Behaved?
History is full of the untold stories of women. Let’s make sure that for women and people who identify as women that doesn’t happen going forward.
Here, I’ll look at the stories that are making history right now, offer craft tips for telling your story to maximum effect, and recommend stories, too.
Your story is your superpower. Let’s tell the story you want to tell, and talk about the stories that matter to us.
All subscribers get:
Stories about the history we’re making right now, like this piece about The Golden Bachelor, apocalypse housewifery, and the casual misogyny of Don Lemon.
Behind-the-scenes looks at my works-in-progress, like this evolution of my book cover.
Craft tips and pep talks for all creatives, like setting and its metaphorical role in shaping our reality, and creating a year-end inventory.
Curated memes/books/movies/stories inspiring me right now, something like this.
My gratitude.
Discounted $50 annual subscribers get the above +:
Quarterly craft and practice storytelling workshops with me
A copy of my ebook, How to Tell a Story
The chance to participate fully in this community
I can’t wait to hear from you.
If a paid subscription is out of reach, and you’d like access to these offerings, email me at more@llkirchner.com.
Who am I?
When I started writing my first memoir in 2007, I’d been a regular alt-newsweekly columnist for more than a decade. I figured I’d knock the book out in a year. Reader, American Lady Creature was first published in 2014. Telling personal stories for public consumption was a skill I had yet to learn. One place I did that was on stage with The Moth.
My first story bombed. When I finished, the host praised my sparkly shirt. But after the show, Moth producer Jennifer Hixson encouraged me to keep telling stories. I want to do the same for you. Eventually, I became a Moth story coach (taking storytelling into schools and even rehabs), started my own storytelling show, and now I tell stories live on national TV with the Home Shopping Network.
But my absolute favorite part has been the story coaching, helping you tell your stories, whether in written or spoken form.
On a more personal note, aka, why I do this:
When I first got sober at 19, it wasn’t because my parents sent me to rehab. I walked in of my own accord after alcoholic hepatitis, two stints in a locked ward, and a bleeding ulcer. Before I went to rehab a second time some 27 years ago, I feared sobriety would mean I had to be “good.” That life would be dull. My art (writing) would suffer. Two memoirs later, it’s safe to say I was wrong.
If anything, maintaining my sobriety has proved to be the most interesting chapter of my life. When I looked at the narratives, the only way to tell the stories was through a personal lens. And the only reason I persisted in getting them published was because I believed so strongly in what they have to say about where we are as a society. First, American Lady Creature reveals my discovery, while living in one of the world’s most patriarchal cultures, how I internalized misogyny. The second book, Blissful Thinking, shows how I became as addicted to spiritual wellness as any drug, and how I finally got off that hamster wheel. Tough subjects I spent years making easy to read.
Now I’m writing novels that highlight the historic patterns of oppression we’ve faced as women. I’m writing them as beach reads/thrillers.
I am a reader as much as a writer. I don’t like big box stores or loud parties, but I love hosting on TV and at my storytelling show because I have a role and know what I’m supposed to be doing.
I’m a Gen Xer with a fondness for things lowbrow. I don’t play the radio in the car, especially if someone else is in the car. I’d rather talk to you. I think of myself as someone who wears her freak flag on the inside. Walking my dog is when I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. I love my ereader because I then I always have all the books, and I can read them no matter what the lighting conditions and even change the font as needed. Plus I’ve moved so often, after having to divest of my massive LP and book collections three times, I’ve stopped being a collector. If I love it, I give it away immediately. I’m a Libra who can be easily persuaded to visit psychics or crack out my Tarot deck, but I believe in those things as metaphorical only. Like the bible. Happily ever after is a myth, but I can always find something to be happy about right now.
Oh, and here’s one of my favorite pics, me doing a live show on HSN from my parents’ house during Covid.
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