Women, Writing, and Soul-Making: Creativity and the Sacred Feminine Review

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Women, Writing, and Soul-Making: Creativity and the Sacred Feminine ReviewNot your ordinary how-to manual, Peggy Tabor Millin's Women, Writing and Soul-Making: Creativity and the Sacred Feminine is a unique and inspiring blend of the poetic, spiritual and practical in which the author seeks a balance between "feminine being and masculine doing." Intentionally written in what she perceives is a more feminine form, each chapter spirals back to what has gone before, delving deeper and deeper into each concept. As she explains, "The feminine writes in circles, makes leaps, tells the truth with dream, imagery, and metaphor, and relies on inner knowing. The masculine approach makes outlines, develops linearly from premise to conclusion, and relies on outside authority." Struggling for a structure which honors both, Tabor Millin achieves a synthesis of the intuitive and the cognitive which is the foundation of any creative endeavor.
Unlike many purely intuitive books, Women, Writing and Soul-Making also provides important guidelines that organize and inspire our task of writing more, writing deeper and finding our own voice. She begins with "The Three Steps" of focusing on the sensations of the body to keep ourselves centered, the often recommended free-writing to random prompts, and developing a practice that includes regular writing in a supportive circle of women. She describes an inner being she calls "the observer" who helps us notice without judgment and silences the inner critic who gets in the way of our free expression. She then outlines three obstacles: believing there should be no obstacles, listening to the "I cant's" instead of the "I wills," and searching for an outside authority instead of relying on our own inner guides.
Her "Four Wisdoms" give us access to this inner guidance. "The wisdom of not knowing" tells us we must face our dark and unknown shadow in order to find the truth which will transform our writing and our lives. "The wisdom of the ecology of body and earth" leads us "out of our heads and into our bodies" so we can discover our own voice. "The wisdom of fierce compassion" encourages us to look at the ugly and painful without flinching and to use our anger as motivation for action. "The wisdom of diversity" allows us to tolerate other opinions and helps us make peace with the fact that our writing may not resonate with everyone.
"The Four Paradoxes" teach us to accept that writing is both "pleasure and pain," that we must accept both "praise and criticism," that we desire and simultaneous fear both "fame and disgrace," and that we must reconcile ourselves to both "gain and loss" since we will have to give up an old world view to bring something new into being. "No way exists to make this gain other than to accept that discomfort, anxiety, and insecurity are necessary" she writes. "We consent to uneasiness as motivation for the creative journey--which is no less than our spiritual journey toward self-realization."
As a writer, musician and composer I found Women, Writing and Soul-Making an excellent guide for any creative endeavor. In this wise and wonderful book there is much, much more to inspire not only writers but anyone seeking to heal her artistic self, to explore her inner feminine and find a path to her own voice, her own truth. An absolute must, it deserves an honored place on a nearby shelf beside the likes of Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron.
by Lisa Shirah-Hiers
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about womenWomen, Writing, and Soul-Making: Creativity and the Sacred Feminine Overview

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The Craft of Fiction Review

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The Craft of Fiction ReviewThis, like E. M. Forster's "Aspects of the Novel," is an essential work of criticism, and it's nice to see it back in print. Lubbock's outlook is an extension of Henry James's. He is more immediately accessible than the Master, and he illustrates the "craft" by reference to classic novels such as Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," Flaubert's "Madame Bovary," Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," and of course James's own works, particularly "The Ambassadors." Lubbock, Forster, F. R. Leavis's "The Great Tradition," and Ian Watt's "Rise of the Novel" give you what you need to know if you want to understand the central canon in Anglo-American and European fiction.The Craft of Fiction Overview

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Business Notes: Writing Personal Notes That Build Professional Relationships Review

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Business Notes: Writing Personal Notes That Build Professional Relationships ReviewFlorence Isaacs does a masterful job of informing the business professional of the incredible importance and influence of notes. Notes are the bridges between professional relationships, and can determine the future of your business. Whether it be a thank you note for the previous day's lunch, the birth of an employees child, even the kind of pen to use, Isaacs covers everything you need to know about writing successful business notes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to take their business relationships to the next level.Business Notes: Writing Personal Notes That Build Professional Relationships Overview

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The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication Review

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The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication ReviewAverage five stars and one star, and you get three stars. If you've heard of delectable cookbooks being referred to as "food porn," you'll understand why I might refer to the first four chapters of The Art of the Handwritten Note as "stationery porn." Shepherd describes beautifully why and how to handwrite a variety of notes and letters. I've written hundreds myself and can vouch for the soundness of her advice. And I love reading different authors on the beauties of pens and papers, as I am one of those addicts.
However, in Chapter Five, "Opportunities to Write the Note That Counts," she goes seriously astray in discussing the etiquette of letter writing. She presents her own preferences as etiquette rules, when they certainly aren't. For instance, one does not need to write thank-you letters when gifts are exchanged in person, though it is a nice touch. And one sample shows a thank-you letter for a baby shower gift signed by - ugh! - the baby. The text contradicts this sample letter, saying "You write these as the parent, acknowledging your gratitude for gifts given to your children, until the children learn to write for themselves," but the lack of captions for the sample letters makes one wonder if this was supposed to be an example of misguided cuteness. But then she says you can phone or email these thanks instead. No, no, no!
And a "printed card in the mail or an announcement in the newspaper" to respond to condolence notes? Hardly! She even allows "frank" responses to gifts one doesn't like, suggesting that you may ask the giver to exchange it for you - WHAT IS SHE THINKING??
"Dear Lytton, I already own the volume of Miss Eden's letters which you so kindly sent, but perhaps you could exchange it for a copy of `The Princesse de Cléves,' which I do not yet have. Yrs., Virginia" -- Oh yes, your family and friends are just going to love getting THOSE sort of letters.
However, at the end there are some (intentionally) funny lists of "do's" and "don't's" for such categories as breakup notes and notes requesting help. In the phrases to use and avoid in fan letters, for example, she sagely advises the letter writer to say, "I have every one of your books," but don't say, "I bought your book for a dollar from a store that sells rejects."
This could have stayed a five-star book if the author had researched the etiquette of correspondence. Nobody but Miss Manners gets to just "make stuff up," and even Miss Manners uses that right sparingly. What one feels is natural and right may not always coincide with what one should do correctly, and I do wish the author had taken the time to learn the difference.The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication Overview

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