The Writer's Path: A Guidebook for Your Creative Journey

I've always wanted to have a writing practice, and this book finally inspired me to do it. I'm thinking of starting a group for beginning writers, and using the exercises in this book as our "curriculum." I actually love the examples, which have shown me that it's okay to relax, have fun, let the words flow without so much self-criticism. The Writer's Path has an air of awareness and kindness about it--I can't explain it, but I feel very nurtured by these authors. I don't know where my writing will take me, and I don't even care. It feels so good to finally begin expressing myself in this way.

The majority of "The Writer's Path" consists of exercises and examples, tied together by bits of wisdom, suggestions, and experiences the authors have had. There are plenty of suggestions for using these exercises in partner, class, or group writing, which makes them much more widely applicable than most other books. Also, when I read other books I often shrug at many of the exercises, finding them a little less than inspiring. Most of this book's exercises come with variations, suggested places to start, ways to take them further, and so on, and I found them more interesting. The exercises range from "jump starts" (quick little things) to "letter forms" (exercises you can do with postcards and letters), "style" (exercises to help you work on your voice and style), "character" (things like biography data sheets, character explorations), and more. If you only read one chapter from this book, though, read the "story" chapter. The exercises in random story structures, abstract story structures, natural story structures, poetic outlines, and so on are intriguing, fun, and inspiring. The examples are my only quibble with the book. They take up a lot of space, and I wasn't terribly interested in them. I do think they serve one important purpose, however. The writer who is afraid to just cut loose and allow herself to write something silly or even--heaven forfend--bad can see that it's okay to not write masterpieces here, and that can be fairly liberating.This would be a particularly valuable book for writing teachers, I believe. The authors have done quite a bit of teaching, and they share many of the insights they've learned. So whether you're teaching creative writing to high schoolers or some of your adult neighbors, in a classroom setting or an informal writers' group, you could learn a lot from this book.

Everyone, anyone will benefit from this book--beginners and masters, productive and blocked writers, literary and technical writers. The authors' premise is that everyone can write, has a unique voice, and has something to write about. Instead of poking us in the eye with rules and have-to's and shoulds--like so many English teachers seem to--Walton and Toomay, both accomplished writers, draw us out, help us discover, and encourage us. They do this through exercises: some to do alone, some with a writing partner; some take a few minutes, some longer; some simple, some difficult. I found them all useful. Well, I haven't tried all of them--there are probably hundreds of them including all the variations. A convenient feature of the format in "Writer's Path" is that you can wade into the book at any point and pick the exercise for whatever skill you want to work on, then come back later for a different exercise. Like Yoga, you don't need an elaborate set up; you can do an exercise jotting on an envelope while you wait for the bus or during a dull meeting. Some are simple enough to do in your head, although I've found it best to write--that's the point of the book--to have a record of what I've done and, at best, to see in time the progress I've made. Many exercises are like improvisational skits--as in Drew Carey's show, "Who's Line is it Anyway"--where rehearsed performance is replaced with on-the-fly invention. Creative--sometimes silly--exercises such as changing one word at a time or reordering sentences help loosen imagination and foster creativity even if the result of an exercise isn't a finished product. To help make the exercises work, they've provided examples of results of most of the exercises. But they don't hold up the examples as models, just as guides. One of the best aspects of this book is that it draws writing out of us rather than pushing us to fit a mold. In that respect, this book inspires and encourages, and may be especially good for people who consider themselves refugees from hypercritical English instruction. As Toomay points out, one of the differences between taditional instruction and "Writer's Path" is that the former focuses on the product of writing, and the latter focuses on the process of writing. Better process necessarily improves the product, yet avoids the necessity for criticism in favor of practice practice practice. (As in the old joke, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?)Although the subtitle--"A Guidebook for Your Creative Journey"--suggests it's for fiction writers, the help "Writer's Path" provides is applicable to any kind of writing because Walton and Toomay show us how to master the thinking, ideas, and psychology underlying written work as well as the mechanics. It could just as well have been titled, "The Psychology of Writing" or "Writing as Experience." Primarily a technical writer, I have found the exercises useful in finding new formats and approaches to old problems. While there are no character

The Writers Path is a not just about writing. It is also about reflections, healing and connecting to oneself and others. It serves not only the seasoned and blossoming writer, but also those looking for a sensitive structure to explore personal insight and creativity through writing. As one who teaches a college class about the creative process as well as being a creative arts therapist I have found invaluable tools in the Writers Path. The exercises, essays and examples help students and clients alike connect with their spirit, their story. We all have a story to tell. Creativity is a great healer. Having methods of tapping into it though writing has proved insightful and therapeutic for my students and clients who claim "they are not writers". They have explored some of the techniques in the Writers Path to create some profound and touching stories.I was first attracted to the book because I wanted toexpand my writing skills. I was pleasantly surprised to find it so divers in its application. It should be on every creative writing class syllabus. Those looking for creative group process ideas will find them in this book. Walton and Toomay present a beautifully written guidebook for ones creative journey.

This book not only offers excellent writing exercises, it also includes the authors' examples so you can get a feel for how to make best use of the techniques described. I especially enjoyed the biography data sheets which help you to better understand your characters (or yourself!). This is a "teaching" book. Here, do this, it says, but goes on to show you how, step by step, which many books don't bother to do. The Writer's Path will keep you busy, entertained, and hopefully, writing better and better pieces.