Writing Related Books I Read in 2022




I read fewer books directly related to the art and process of writing in 2022 than I had in the past few years as my attention was on working through books I already had in my reading list. I was also busy implementing what I'd learned from previous years' readings.


 Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives by Louise DeSalvo is a very interesting book on multiple levels. DeSalvo delves into going deep into our life experiences, reactions to them, thoughts about them, and the emotions they bring up for us through writing. She demonstrates how this writing can be healing. As someone who has long written to heal or to make sense of the wrongs in the world or to better understand hurts inflicted, much of what she said resonated with me. Her "What You Can Do Now" segments in the chapters offer very good prompts that I would highly recommend for someone wanting to start writing to heal or healing through writing. I've been doing this work my whole life, so I tackled these segments a little differently trying to fit the book around where I currently am in my writing and in my life. I will say, though, that the book inspired me to at least think about eventually writing my memoir... 


  Light the Dark: Writers on Creativity, Inspiration, and the Artistic Process by Joe Fassler is a compilation of essays by a diverse group of authors. I bought it because I've been feeling a bit unfocused and somewhat inspired lately. I found most of these essays interesting and at least somewhat inspiring. Authors discussing other authors and how certain writing has inspired them felt both intellectual and intimate. The different writing styles and the different things different writers find inspiring made me think about writing that has inspired me in both my writing and in my life. As in all cases of compilations, certain of these essays spoke to me on a deeper level than others. Overall, I found the book a worthwhile read. I think anyone interested in what makes writers write and share their work with the world would find this book interesting.


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