Write It All Down: How to Put Your Life on the Page

Description

'Cathy is the person who first told me to write about my mental health when I was nervous to do so. She is a great writer herself and this is brilliant.' - Matt Haig Why do we want to write and what stops us? How does the urge to express ourselves fight with the worry that no-one will care or that we will get in trouble? How do we identify and overcome everything that gets in our way so we can start making work? Sunday Times bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink shows you how to tackle all this and more in Write It All Down, a guide to putting your life on the page. This is a kind, encouraging and stimulating book that explores the nature of memoir writing and offers helpful guidance on how to write your life on paper. Rentzenbrink will help you to discover the pleasure and solace to be found in writing; the profound satisfaction of wrestling a story onto a page and seeing the events of your life transformed through the experience of writing the self. Perfect for both seasoned writers as well as writing amateurs and everyone in between, this helpful handbook will steer you through the philosophical and practical challenges of writing the self. Intertwined with reflections, anecdotes and exercises, Write It All Down is at once an intimate and enjoyable narrative and an invitation to share your story.

Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache and Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books. It took her twenty years to wrestle her own life story on the page and she loves to use what she has learnt about the profound nature of writing the self in the service of others. Cathy has taught for Arvon, Curtis Brown Creative, at Falmouth University and at festivals and in prisons, and welcomes anyone, no matter what their experience, education, background or story. She believes that everyone's life would be improved by picking up a pen and is at her happiest when encouraging her students to have the courage to delve into themselves and see the magic that will start to happen on the page.

A gentle, wise and witty book that will take you by the hand and guide your words onto the page - I truly wish I'd read it before I began to write. -- Raynor Winn, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Salt Path and The Wild Silence Cathy has an extraordinary gift for helping people tell their stories and you need this gently inspirational book in your life. -- Nina Stibbe, author of the award-winning Love, Nina and Reasons to Be Cheerful A wonderful, inspiring and practical book . . . I recommend this book to anyone who wants inspiration, concrete tips and encouragement to write. -- Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass