You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Let's say you've never written anything in your life, well, possibly a journal entry or two, and you think you have an idea that you'd like to explore and maybe even publish. Where would you start? What might inhibit you from beginning your project? How might you manage the loneliness of creating something from the jumble of ideas in your mind? You have been saying you wanted to write for years and have resolved that it's time to do it, but that decision is followed by self-doubt, “Do you really have anything to say?” Now, imagine that you have twelve talented and insightful writers to help you confront your writing impasses, the ones that reside in our unconscious and the ones that you have known about for years.
In case you are wondering where you would find such well-tuned mentors, wait no longer. London-based Martin Weegman has assembled twelve psychologically sophisticated writers from a variety of disciplines to guide the novice writer, as well as the more seasoned writer, through the developmental stages of producing an original piece of writing. In essence, he edited the book he wished he might have read as he was embarking on his own writing career. As he says of himself, “It so happened that it took me forever and a day to find myself within my voice” (p. 38). These essays may provide solace and inspiration to the burgeoning writer who works in lonely solitude, waiting for that small, still voice within to emerge.
There are twelve essays in this compact little book. All illuminate different challenges that arise in the creative process and most are quite successful. A couple of essays are made less relevant to everyone by their assumption that most readers share a deep understanding of some of the more arcane aspects of Kleinian thinking. Not everyone does. Setting that aside, most of the essays shed light on interesting facets of the writing experience that are especially relevant to clinicians. Given the Kleinian bent of several authors, most of whom live