Write Your Heart Out: Exploring & Expressing What Matters to You

Write Your Heart Out, in the words of author Rebecca McClanahan, "is a mixture of direct instruction, writing exercises and prompts, examples from published and unpublished texts, and personal reflections on the writing process." Though a final chapter of the book does touch upon preparing your "private I" writing for the "public eye," the book emphasizes process, not product. McClanahan is interested in writing as a way of life, not in writing as a career. Her gentle, mellifluous words encourage the would-be writer to explore journal writing, memoir, writing about joy and sorrow, letter writing, and collaborative writing. The book's lovely, anecdotal prose is geared toward the person who has always wanted to write, but who, for whatever reason, just hasn't gotten around to it. Don't waste years waiting for life to become less busy, McClanahan says. "No one actually has time to write; each writer must make the time." --Jane Steinberg