Inside the Cover Book Review
Review by Kate Robinson
Listen
to Me: Writing Life into Meaning
By Lynn Lauber
W. W. Norton & Company
2004
174 pp.
Writing related
If I could choose only one
writing book to assist me with my inner life and the writing craft, Listen to
Me would be that singular choice. While many writing books make themselves
accessible to committed writers, novelist and essayist Lynn Lauber has crafted a
quiet little volume that connects with anyone too shy to call themselves writers
or storytellers; those who perhaps consider their lives too ordinary to be of
artistic interest or too embarrassing to share. A compassionate mentor and
writing instructor, Lauber speaks directly to the hearts of everyday people
attempting to find definition and transformation in the uncharted territory of
selfhood.
About breaking one's
deepest self open to examination, Listen to Me aptly demonstrates how
allowing our stories to bubble up, like blood from a gash or cooling water from
a hidden spring, restores our personal power. "Between the informality of a
grocery list and the finely wrought prose of a Pulitzer Prize winner is a middle
way, a fertile grove where anyone can wander . . . in the end, all of us are
submerged in the same pool of words," she advises.
With keen intellect,
acerbic wit, deeply felt convictions, and sensitive prose, Lauber guides readers
through the grand avenues and back alleys of writing. Beginning with angles of
approach and finding one's form, she addresses the myriad trials and
tribulations of writing, from silencing our inner critic to deepening our
writing to the fullest. Lauber convinces us to tell our personal stories with
five solid reasons to "write out of your life." Each chapter is filled
to the brim with tips, techniques, anecdotes, and writing prompts. If that isn't
enough to send us rapturously to the blank page, Lauber also outlines "five
ways that writing can heal you." And who alive couldn't use some healing
energy?
Lauber backs up her claims
with poignant writing about her own painful journey as woman and writer, sharing
deeply private scenes that left me in tears, so honest were her stories and
their intent. And she doesn't stop there-- she shares solid advice about truth
and how to make peace with it. "This is the magic and mystery of writing,
how we take our lives and use them for our own deep reasons, working them until
they make sense, until they reveal what we need to understand or bear."
If that weren't enough for
one slim volume, Lauber wraps up her instruction with nine good things about
writing, the last but not least being that writing simply feels good. Whether
you write memoir or weave memoir into fiction, or just attempt to make sense of
your experiences, Listen to Me is a priceless guide to the art of
capturing personal illumination.
If I were not a writer and chanced upon this book,
I truly believe Listen to Me could inspire me to take up the pen. As it
is, I'm impelled to dip again and again into this treasure box of discovery and
craft, striving to break myself open to the truth lurking in my most
personal stories.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE BOOK.
Kate Robinson earned a BA in Anthropology with emphasis
in Museum Studies from Prescott College in 1999. Her latest publication, a
middle grade reference book on the National Mall, was released in February 2005
by Enslow Publishing. She lives in Arizona with her youngest son and daughter
and her writing aspirations.
