Write from the Heart : Unleashing the Power of Your Creativity

Rating:
Summary: This Book Changed My Life
Review: Before I read Write From the Heart, I had a book trapped inside me that was screaming to be written. I've been a creative mentor for years, but never had published a book, and didn't think of myself as an author. This book helped me to find and unleash my own unique voice, and the exercises acted as guideposts along the way that kept me on track. My confidence level went from very low to very high in a short amount of time, thanks to the practical tools that Hal Bennett offers. I was able to kick out my inner critic and let my imagination knock over the blocks that had been running my inner dialog. The insights I gained from this book provided the discipline for me to keep writing and not get distracted, and I can safely say that without the help of this creative and wise man, my book would not have been finished. Not only is it finished, but as of September 2002, it is published! I am so grateful for Write From the Heart.
Katherine Q Revoir, author of the recently published book "Spiritual Doodles & Mental Leapfrogs: A Playbook for Unleashing Spiritual Self-Expression (published by Red Wheel/Weiser)

Rating:
Summary: Writing From Your Heart
Review: Hal Zina Bennett's profound advice from his prolific writing career (over 30 published books) is, "write from the heart". As wonderful as that sounds, most writers know it's not an easy thing to do. Hal takes us to another dimension by sharing his personal process and showing each of us how we can remove the blocks to our expression and creativity by learning how to speak from our heart to the heart of our reader. I can speak from my own personal experience, having attended his workshops and received personal counselling from him in the process of writing my book, "Sacred Woman, Sacred Dance: Awakening Spirituality Through Movement and Ritual". "Write From the Heart" also offers practical guidance in several areas. This includes such things as the need for solitude. However, he is not just talking about having "a quiet space", he goes beyond the physical to the inner - a state of mind. He says, "Once we know what it is, what it looks like and feels like, we can create it for ourselves, almost--I say "almost"--regardless of where we happen to be." I would certainly recommend this book to anyone writing for personal expression or looking to be published.

Rating:
Summary: Honest, intimate writing, but lacking in balance
Review: You'll find plenty of interesting material in this book. 13 chapters are included, each beginning with the obligatory cool quote and ending with a single detailed exercise. Many include a paragraph somewhere indicating the "core concept" of the chapter, set off with a gray background. Finally the book ends with a bibliography--which doubles as a rather nice reading list. A fair amount of time is spent on the emotions and feelings involved in writing, which is entirely appropriate to a book with a title like "Write from the Heart"!

You'll find material on making peace with your inner critic (a subject discussed in "Pencil Dancing" but dealt with in greater depth here). There's a chapter on creating a system of supportive critiquing with other writers, and a chapter that deals with the subject of small, independent book publishers--something I haven't seen talked about in many places.

While I do very much like this book, it did suffer from some balance problems. As the title indicates, it's a book for writers. In large part, however, it's a memoir. It's also a book on spirituality. I felt as though Mr. Bennett lost focus now and then--forgot what his main topic and audience were. I sometimes felt as though the bits of memoir scattered throughout weren't adequately related back to the topic at hand and went on for longer than they needed to. While Mr. Bennett did make fascinating connections between elements of spirituality and elements of writing, sometimes he failed to connect them well enough. A few chapters seemed to focus almost entirely on spirituality with writing concerns added as an afterthought.

The spirituality of this book is not what I would consider offensive. It delves into such topics as spirit guides and the "invisible world," but is (usually) careful to remain grounded in reality and anchored to the topic of writing. It will make die-hard skeptics uncomfortable in places, but it is interesting, and some of the ideas are worth a try. They might indeed give you new ways in which to approach your writing. Ultimately this is a very helpful book, and I highly recommend it for people who would like to achieve more with their writing than commercial success alone.