Write Your Heart Out

Book excerpt: Write Your Heart Out explores how to turn personal experiences, ideas and emotions into stories, essays, poems and memoirs. In a clear, insightful voice, Rebecca McClanahan teaches readers how to mine and shape personal material, urging them to write deeply, honestly and imaginatively about the most important people, events and emotions in their lives. She emphasizes the importance of personal writing as both catharsis and discovery, addressing such topics as:- Writing about the past- Writing about, and from, strong emotions- Writing to communicate with family and friends- Writing about work, goals and interestsMoving from the private to the public, the book's structure is formulated to guide readers in writing personal, heartfelt works that can, if so desired, culminate in publication.Rebecca McClanahan is the author of six books, including Word Painting. Her short stories, essays and poems have appeared in some of the finest literary journals in the country, including the Kenyon Review, the Gettysburg Review, and the Georgia Review, and have been anthologized in Pushcart Prize XVIII and Best American Poetry, 1998. She lives in New York City.