Belle Isle Books
Find us on
  • Home
  • Bookstore
    • Anthology
    • Children
    • Fiction
    • Health
    • History
    • Holiday
    • Memoir
    • Middle Grade/Young Adult
    • Poetry/Music
    • Religious
    • Self-Help/Guidebooks
    • E-books
    • Sale
  • Cooperative Publishing
    • Submit Your Manuscript
  • Self-Publishing
    • Get a Quote
    • Self-Publishing Services
  • About Our Books
    • Meet Our Authors >
      • Pamela Adler
      • Lorin Agedbenro
      • Eric Albright
      • Sadiq Ali
      • The Alimenti Family
      • Krystal D. Allyn
      • L. Meredith Averitt, DVM
      • Liz Ballard Hamm & Andrew Ballard
      • Missy Balusek
      • Mary Alice Barksdale and Donna Jessie Fogelsong
      • Heather Bennett
      • James Berrall
      • Dan Bessie
      • K.E. Bonner
      • S.A. Borders-Shoemaker
      • Dave Bowles
      • Connie Bowman
      • Craig Bradley
      • Anna Burger
      • Caley Cantrell
      • Catherine Carson
      • Tucker Carwile
      • Larry Caylor
      • Natalie Chase
      • Cindy Chisholm
      • Ray Chung
      • Sylvia Churchill Prince
      • Duncan L. Clarke
      • Victoria Coniglio
      • Jennifer Cooke
      • Deanna Cox
      • Cliff Davis
      • Danielle Dayney
      • Edward Denecke
      • Julie DiNisio, Jade Miller, & Christine Stoddard
      • Elizabeth Dodson
      • Greg Drost
      • Lori Epting
      • Joy Fernandez
      • Marc Ferrari
      • Dorothy Fleming
      • Harry Floyd
      • Diane Forti
      • Bridgette Fowler
      • Graham Gardner
      • Kathleen George
      • Karen Gloyer Little
      • Elizabeth Grapes
      • Harold E. Harris, Jr.
      • Wag Harrison
      • Joseph Hartmann
      • Harry Hathaway Warner
      • J. Matthew Helms
      • Daniel "Seth" Holliday and Daniel "Wayne" Holliday
      • Harry Holmes
      • Carolyn Hoy
      • Nancy Hubbard Clark
      • Philip Iovino
      • Elizabeth Javidan
      • William Jensen
      • Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy
      • Ginger Johnston Philbrick
      • Tansill Johnson
      • Dirk and Debbie Kagerbauer
      • Tim Lane
      • Emily Langhorne
      • Brandon Layne
      • Geraldine Lee Susi
      • Martin Lehfeldt
      • T.F. Lloyd
      • Roger Loring
      • Sandrine Marlier
      • Terry Ann Marsh
      • Marjorie E. Masek
      • Mika Matsuno
      • Jeff Mayer
      • Roseanne McDonald
      • Joy Metzer
      • Eric Michlowitz
      • Angie Miles
      • Kara Navolio
      • Gail Nelson Canada
      • Lauren Oakey
      • Jenny Oates Riggs
      • Liam O'Brien & Noreen O'Brien
      • Abigail Olson
      • Glen Olson
      • Amanda Lorraine Owen
      • Dr. Drew Palacio
      • Stephanie Parwulski
      • Anne Poarch
      • Grady W. Powell, Sr.
      • Jody Rathgeb
      • Isabel Reddy
      • Sabrina Rigaud-Carrié
      • John "Sonny" Robinson
      • Beth Roberts
      • John Roche
      • Kim Roedl
      • Allen Edgar Rogers
      • Keith Rustin
      • Marilyn Seigle
      • Ben Sharpton
      • Bonnie Stanard
      • William Stanfield
      • Carolyn Sullivan Moore
      • Paul L. Tsompanas
      • Diane Twomley
      • Dr. Shweta Ujaoney Thackeray
      • Iris Underwood
      • Steven Vaitonis
      • Kathy Varner
      • Doug Warren
      • Robert E. Weems
      • Susan Weiner
      • Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler
      • Randy White
      • Julie Whitney
      • Cade Wiberg
      • Julie Ellis Williams
      • Helen L. Williamson
      • Kelly G. Williams
      • Michael K. Willis
      • Norma Woody
      • Randi Wolf Lauterbach
      • Nikki-Dee Ray Wren and David Wren
      • Edward Wright Haile
      • Nicole Wright
      • Luke Yesbeck
      • Karen Young Foley
      • Richard Lee Zuras
    • Meet Our Illustrators >
      • Dennis Auth
      • Brianna Baker
      • Mary Barrows
      • Jessica Berg
      • Sarah Berkheimer
      • Melissa Blue
      • Cody Bowerman
      • Kendy Calixte
      • Craig Cameron
      • Laurie Conley
      • Laura Craig
      • Britt Van Deusen
      • Felipe Diaz Huarnez
      • Scott DuBar
      • Parks Duffey
      • Alejandro Echavez
      • Natalia Elmore
      • Susan Emery
      • Apolline Etienne
      • Heidi Gibson
      • Jessica Gibson
      • Sander Gibson
      • Cheryl Grant
      • Heather Heyworth
      • Whitney Hill
      • Kate Johnson
      • Kate Jordan
      • Maryana Kachmar
      • Bobbie Kogok
      • Lucy Koo
      • Kelly Lane
      • Nancy LeBlanc
      • Jack Lefcourt
      • Elizabeth Lester
      • Natalia Logvanova
      • Louisa Mae
      • Kelly O'Neill
      • Lintang Pandu Pratiwi
      • Maegan Penley
      • Andrea Pinter
      • Emily Hurst Pritchett
      • Tania Ramírez Cuevas
      • Kira Ribordy
      • Christina Rodriguez-Unalt
      • Leonardo Schiavina
      • Elizabeth Scolero
      • Monique Seibel
      • Vineet Siddhartha
      • Michelle Simpson
      • Amanda Spiers
      • Nancy Taylor Atkins
      • Chad Thompson
      • Tracie Timmer
      • Lindsay Wallen
      • Penny Weber
      • Mindy J.B. Whitten
      • Jen Williamson
      • Keegan Williams
      • Kyrie Woodring
    • News >
      • Blog
  • About Us
    • Events
    • Staff
    • Our Story
    • Careers
  • Contact Us

Richard Lee Zuras

Picture
Richard Lee Zuras earned his MFA as a McNeese scholar under the auspices of Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction, Robert Olen Butler, and two-time Iowa Poetry Prize winner, John Wood. His stories and poems have appeared in dozens of literary journals including Story Quarterly, South Dakota Review, Weber Journal, Big Muddy, Jabberwock Review, Lake Effect, Chicago Quarterly Review, Laurel Review, Yemassee, Xavier Review, Confrontation, Red Rock Review, and Passages North. Richard has held writing conference scholarships at Bread Loaf, Wesleyan University, and Pirate's Alley Faulkner, and is the author of the novels The Bastard Year, and The Honeymoon Corruption as well as the poetry collection Birds at the Post Office (all Brandylane Publishers). Richard is a professor of English & creative writing at the University of Maine at Presque Isle where he has taught creative writing for more than twenty years. He lives with his wife, Kelly, two sons Everett and Holden, and a red Siberian husky named Indigo. 

Books

Mining Your Past

$17.95
by Richard Lee Zuras


No one has ever seen the world the way you have.

This is a truth that noted author, poet, and professor Richard Lee Zuras knows well. Mining your past—for its characters, its lessons, its regrets, and its joys—can feel intimidating, but it leads to authenticity in a writer’s written work that cannot be replicated. No one has seen the world the way you do, and so learning how to tap into that world as you create new stories is an invaluable way of finding your voice.

In this accessible and informative writing guide, Zuras skillfully combines his previous written works and personal histories with concrete tools for any reader looking to integrate their own pasts into authentic writing. Refreshingly reader-focused, Mining Your Past provides its audience tangible methods for uncovering their unique worldview in order to create more compelling and genuine storytelling. Readers will step away with a greater faith in their potential as a writer and a better understanding of their own pasts, presents, and futures, making this an essential read for novice writers searching for a way to share their stories, as only they can tell them.
Shop
Proudly powered by Weebly