Why write out of our lives? What can it do for us? How can sharing our stories connect us with others? Acclaimed novelist and essayist Lynn Lauber chronicles her journey as a writer and longtime teacher at creative writing programs around the country. She explores how writing—both fiction and creative nonfiction—has served as a means of personal navigation, a healing and avenging force, and a way of calling up not only a lost daughter but also a lost self. Her story serves as encouragement for others to produce their own personal narratives. Each chapter includes inventive writing exercises and prompts, practical devices for moving past writer's blocks and self-censorship, and advice from Lauber's students as well as renowned authors. expands on the wisdom of Natalie Goldberg's and Anne Lamott's , offering energizing tips, techniques, and anecdotes in combination with honest and personal experience-sharing.