Writing to Heal the Soul: Transforming Grief and Loss Through Writing
Unlike the other authors in this roundup, Zimmerman does not focus solely on loss through death. Instead, she speaks of how writing can allow emotions sparked from any loss to be expressed, thence allowing the writer to grapple and come to terms with grief. Zimmerman knows of what she speaks; her first book, Grief Dancers, allowed her to reach some resolution in her sorrow over her daughter's developmental disabilities owing to Rett syndrome. She uses anecdotes from her life to introduce exercises designed to get readers writing about their feelings and their own life experiences. Wide-ranging, those exercises include writing love and hate letters, examining one's blessings-in-disguise, and comparing how much one does for others versus how much one does for oneself. Zimmerman is obviously a believer in the therapeutic effects of journaling, and she makes a good evangelist for her beliefs. Recommended for most public libraries; academic libraries supporting creative nonfiction programs may also want to consider.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.