Write from the Heart : Unleashing the Power of Your Creativity

There are hundreds of books on the market about the writing craft. But "good writing cannot be taught by teaching craft alone," says Hal Zina Bennett, a creativity consultant, writing coach, and author of 30 books. Instead, says Bennett, people can become good writers by learning to "write from the heart." For Bennett, this involves calling upon imaginary readers, inner guides, shamans, "peak experiences," and "essential wounds." Meditating, psychic readings, channeling, and stripping away the "Mask Self" help, too. Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way) calls this book "one of the handful of real writing books." Surely, this is enough information to help you decide whether you are a good match for the book (the revised edition features a new series of "writing explorations" exercises developed from Bennett's "Write from the Heart" seminars).

Even the less spiritually inclined are likely to be intrigued by Bennett's thoughts on the storytelling tradition. The advent of the printing press, he says, caused a lamentable gulf between storyteller and listener (or reader). "When the pressures of publishers' deadlines and arguments with editors start crowding me," he muses, "I sometimes dream how great it would be to just tell stories to a small circle of friends and neighbors who've gathered around a campfire." --Jane Steinberg