Hello fellow writers, and this month’s review is of Steve Almond’s ‘Truth Is The Arrow, Mercy Is The Bow’ , a profound and thoughful book about writing. It’s now at Lecture 46 of the Complete Freelance Writing Course, and these review videos are starting to stack up there!

Steve Almond has written fiction, non-fiction, co presented a podcast with Cheryl Strayed, Dear Sugars, and is a most experienced writing teacher. The experience truly shows in this book, and his excerpts are exceptionally well-chosen and fitting.

There are some fascinating themes: how writer’s may need to choose between admiration and truth, how obsession and yearning satisfy readers, and the power of egoless writing. This is a book I absolutely needed to read and will refer to again and again in the future, I’m sure.

Meanwhile in real life, as contrasted with our online world, I’m helping out at these workshops in a local bookshop in a museum, with a Poetry Pause break in the middle of each session. We’ve got star writers attending, and am getting inspired to create something relevant to this work in the future.

Do hope you currently find that your writing is helping you feel good, too!