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Writing Spirit – Finding Your Creative Soul - Book Review

By Robin Rousseau

Winter in New England keeps me from walking on the beach every day. If I don’t

walk for several days, I get antsy. It was below freezing when I decided to venture

out to Staples office supply store for some printer ink. Barnes and Noble was

located a few doors down, so I decided to give myself a half mile walk and pop in.

When I’m in any bookstore, I go straight to the metaphysical section to see what’s

new. I turned sideways, in a contortionist sort of way, and looked at shelf after

shelf of books. I said to myself, “I’ve already read that book. Nothing new here. Another Puppy Mill Book

(the term I coined for books authors crank out and slap their name on—without any evidence of their soul being

present—creative or otherwise).”

I proceeded to look at the astrology section. I’ve been studying astrology since I was about 10 years old. I seldom

find anything that makes me think differently in the astrology section, but I decided to look anyway. Browsing the

shelves, I mubbled to myself, “Everyone wants me to write a book. I just don’t see how I can contribute anything

new here. It’s all been done before.” Sure enough, there was a non-astrological title that popped out at me called

Writing Spirit by Lynn Andrews. I said to myself, “I wonder what this book is about? It doesn’t look like an

astrology book.” I turned the book over to read a synopsis of the content, and the first words on the back cover

were, “You are a writer. Your act of power is the book or the story that you are creating. It is now time for you

to bloom.” “Wow! Very powerful and ironically timely message from Spirit,” I thought. It was a burning bush…

voice from God sort of moment. I bought the book knowing that a very important message was waiting for me in

its pages.

It wasn’t long before I fell in love…love…love with Writing Spirit. Right out of the gate, Lynn grabbed my attention and

answered my question, “How can I contribute anything new with my writing?” She says in Chapter 1, “I believe that we

have chosen our bodies and our life experiences to teach us things. To erase personal history [as some Shamans

recommend] means to let go not only of the people in your history, and the difficulties and abuse, but also of the

lessons of life that these experiences teach you, the knowing that comes from your own personal history. It is this

knowing, these experiences, that animates your writing, that give it depth, that make it so readable. You can’t

remember the knowing without remembering the circumstances. Better than the erasing of personal history is to go

into the middle of your experience as it is and as you are resolving it and write about it. Let it become your characters.

Let all of that experience be your gift to people” She also says, “… in learning from and growing through them difficult

times], we can create great personal power in our lives, and this, in turn, can become the source of great writing.”

I got it. My writing power and contribution is in my own very personal story. No one has my life experiences but

many can learn from them and even laugh at them with me. Believe me, I am in no way short of life experiences to

share, therefore I should have a never ending fountain of material to write about.

In Chapter 5, Lynn brings in her Shaman way of looking at things and talks about Your Writing Power Animal. I never

realized I had a ‘writing power animal’ until she started describing the writing process in terms of an animal stalking

you. Lynn says, “A story once it finds its teller will stalk you endlessly, like a wolf stalks a caribou. A wolf will follow

his prey for weeks, biting from time to time at its heels. Each nip leaves a small trail of blood…It is your destiny…As

a caribou is transformed from life-giving food back into spirit, so are you transformed as a story teller.” I know the f

eeling. Many times an article or review starts writing itself as soon as my head hits the pillow at night or when I’m in

the shower. It won’t let me go unless I get up and start writing for few hours and start putting the story on paper. It definitely feels like

I’m being stalked and pressured by and unseen influence.

In Writing Spirit, Lynn talks about Honoring the Muses, Dreaming, Shape Shifting, Writer as Magician and the importance of being of service to the universe through the sharing of your gift of writing. She also gives the aspiring writer a structure to work within called the Writers Wheel to ensure that important elements are present in the completed story. Lynn adds texture by weaving bits and pieces of her own 19 published books into the writing lesson by practicing what she preaches—sharing her own personal experiences to transform the reader.

I love how Lynn describes the way she begins to prepare for a writing project…You’ll have to read the book though. I don’t want her Writing Power Animal to bite me in the bum for giving too much of the book away. My excitement for this book might be like a Writing Power Animal in heat.

In your life, there may be only a few books that you read that effect you at your core and become a part of you. The Writing Spirit by Lynn Andrews is one of those books if you’re an aspiring writer. The book will provoke the creative writing spirit within you to start shaping and molding a work of art to be shared with all. Lynn Andrews book, The Writing Spirit will inspire you to look within and reach deep down inside yourself to pull up the story that lives in you—the story that is uniquely your gift to the universe.