Review by Booklist Review
Every serious writer, whether writing fiction or nonfiction, longs to write "deeply" --to create meaningful work from the inner core of being. Only another writer can understand just how difficult this can be. Maisel combines his experience as a writer and psychotherapist in this wittily written and effective guide to unblocking the mind and allowing our creative juices to flow freely. Maisel warns that it's "real bedlam!" inside our heads and "psychological demons" can prevent us from writing deeply, if at all. Moving deftly through the seven principles, which include "Hushing the Mind" and "Making Choices," he anticipates the typical and not-so-typical roadblocks to good writing. Case studies used for illustration sound very familiar to writers who encounter pitfalls on their way to creating serious work. Most valuable are the exercises--using them should have the desired effect of getting most writers back in touch with their muse. Any library with a good collection of writing tools should add this title. --Marlene Chamberlain
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Psychotherapist Maisel, also an author of fiction and nonfiction, now works as a creativity consultant. He defines deep writing as "writing passionately and well about those things that really matter to you." It involves seven principles: hushing the mind, holding the intention, making choices, honoring the process, befriending the work, evaluating, and doing what's required. Maisel follows five fictional writers through the seven steps and offers various exercises, which include such activities as writing a vision statement (to hold the intention) and finding a totem object to squeeze, thus giving your unfinished novel a loving hug (to befriend the work). "This approach may sound loony to you," he says, but writers who take his workshops "come around." This psychological approach sets Maisel's work apart from the many inspirational how-to-write books. For public or academic libraries where interest warrants.Nancy P. Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
