Listen to me: writing life into meaning

Description

Writing out of your life -- Writing out of revenge -- Writing to heal -- The magic of automatic writing -- Life's ladder -- Silencing the critics -- Deepening -- Telling the truth -- Finding your form -- Angle of approach -- Editing- at last -- Nine good things about writing.;Why write out of our lives? What can it do for us? How can sharing our stories connect us with others? Acclaimed novelist and essayist Lynn Lauber chronicles her journey as a writer and longtime teacher at creative writing programs around the country. She explores how writing-- both fiction and creative nonfiction-- has served as a means of personal navigation, a healing and avenging force, a way of calling up not only a lost daughter but also a lost self. Her story serves as encouragement for others to produce their own personal narratives out of their own deep reservoirs of experience and wisdom. According to Lauber, no other artistic endeavor is so democratic and free to all as personal writing. If you've lived, you have a story full of drama, pathos, and beauty, and writing is a way of exploring it. Each chapter includes inventive writing exercises and prompts, practical devices for moving past writer's blocks and self-censorship, and advice from Lauber's students as well as renowned authors. She offers energizing tips, techniques, and anecdotes in combination with honest and personal experience sharing.