Starting a new writing project is hard, and it makes a difference to remember that the process is inherently valuable. Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo demonstrates, with compassion and practical advice, how building a writing practice will help you grow as a person. Trusting yourself and honoring your own ideas, for example, are essential skills for the early stages of a writing project. At the beginning, “our creative notions might seem murky, problematical, fleeting, puzzling. They may appear tiny, trivial, meaningless, formless, fragmentary, or insignificant. But they are not. And we cannot treat them as if they are” (p. 125). Indeed, that’s how I often feel about my own early ideas, and the message is clear: don’t stop before you start. Honor your own thoughts, and write them down! Everything else follows from there.
It’s 25 years old now, but the book’s advice will still help new writers grapple with perennial obstacles like building confidence, taking care of yourself while writing about trauma, and dedicating time to write. It took three years and two writing friends’ tips for me to finally take this book off my shelf, but I’ll be returning to it for encouragement again and again.