Writing Routes

Gillie Bolton has worked in reflective and therapeutic writing for personal and professional development for twenty-five years, and has written and edited five books, one of which is now in its third edition. A grandmother of three, she lives in Bloomsbury, London, and Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Kate Thompson is a BACP senior accredited counsellor and supervisor and a journal therapist. After gaining a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University and therapeutic training, she developed a method of combining the two. She is a faculty member of the Center for Journal Therapy and Institute for Therapeutic Writing and lives in Colorado, USA.

This very readable anthology collects together over 70 contributors who offer a diverse and rich array of personal experience of using creative writing.. I read the writers' words and pieces over a long Bank Holiday weekend by dipping into different parts as the mood took me, and was variously heartened, confounded, warmed and amused. At times, I was stopped in my tracks with the pain and distress of some of the work... a truly wonderful collection of views and writings which I recommend to any reader, and especially to those who might feel the beginnings of a need to put themselves on paper.

• Foreword by Gwyneth Lewis. Preface by Gillie Bolton, Victoria Field, Kate Thompson. Postscript by Fiona Hamilton. 1. Getting into Writing. Edited by Victoria Field. 'Writing a Journal: A Way to My Soul', Satu Nieminen. 'Natalie's Golden Mantras', Alexandra Boyle. 'Writing Yourself Forward', Debbie McCulliss. 'Writing 'Kingfisher', Abi Curtis. 'Poems Invite Us to Write Them', Kate Compston. 'Relaxing into Writing', Ray Russell. 'Happily Ever After...And Then What?', Sarah Salway. 2. Forging Identities. Edited by Kate Thompson. 'Writing Dreams', Juhani Ihanus. 'The Whole Picture', Angela Stoner. 'Letter to a Stranger - Processing the Momentary', Cheryl Moskowitz. 'The Mincer Character', Myra Schneider. 'A Rose by any Other Name Might not Smell as Sweet', Shelley McAlister. 'Lucy', Andrew Rudd. 'Dodging Rednecks with a Grudge', Tim Metcalf. 'Writing Barefoot', Shirley A. Serviss. 3. Writing the Self. Edited by Victoria Field. 'Black Sheep in the Family', Larry Butler. 'People on my Bus', Fran Creffield. 'Midnight Robber', Dominique De-Light. 'Writing as a Process of Coming-to-knowing', Rosie Alexander. 'Writing Inspired', Sue Glover Frykman. 'AlphaWrites: 26 Days to Transformation', Kay Adams. 'Writing Loops', Briony Goffin. 'Finding Your Racket Voice', Sandy Hutchinson Nunns. 4. Writing the Body. Edited by Victoria Field. 'Finding Beauty in an Ugly Situation', Beverly Kirkhart. 'Listening to Body Signals: Triggers from the Past', Jane Pace. 'Straight from the Hip', Sue Ashby. 'Dealing with Chronic Pain', Miriam Halahmy. 'Broken Face - A Poem', Bryony Doran. 'In Watching You I See Myself', Jay Carpenter. 'Creating a Legacy Out of Everyday Living', Claire Willis. 5. Writing the Troubled Self. Edited by Victoria Field. 'Cracks', Rebecca Atherton. 'The Blue Gate', Rose Flint. 'Giving Perspective', Yona McGinnis. 'The Year the Wall Came Down', Maggie Sawkins. 'Stories from the Silk Tent', Lucy O'Hagan, Gilly Pugh and Lizzi Yates. 6. Our Families, Ourselves. Edited by Gillie Bolton. 'Time Capsule', Linda Sliwoski. 'When Melancholia Strikes, Poetry Steps In', Glynis Charlton. 'The Legacy of Mothers', Marliss Weber. 'For Those Who Wish to Sing, There is Always a Song', Margot Van Sluytman. 'The Clock and Me', Nigel Gibbons. 'Come In - to the Life of the Poem', Graham Hartill. 'Never Rub Out, Never Throw Away', Jonathan Knight. 7. Relationships. Edited by Gillie Bolton. 'The Healing Fountain', Penelope Shuttle. 'Burning Want', Les Murray. 'Leaving Tortilla, My Cat', Claire Williamson. 'Wall Writing', Monica Suswin. 'Invoking the Ancestors', Reinekke Lengelle. 'A Heart-shadow Fell at Our Feet: Writing a Sequence of Love Sonnets', Robert Hamberger. 8. Personal Loss. Edited by Gillie Bolton. 'To a Gold Ear-ring, Head of Nefertiti', Wendy French. 'The Final "Good Bye"', Sarah Birnbach. 'Something We Need to Learn to Live Alongside', Yvonne Watson. 'Close up, From a Distance', Deborah Buchan. 'Writing My Mother's Obituary', Leone Ridsdale. 'I'll Never Forget', Joanne Robinson. 9. Managing Transitions. Edited by Kate Thompson. 'Writing, Waiting, Rocks', Mary Lee Moser. 'The Door', Gillie Jenkinson. 'Do the Work: A Writing Exercise that Turns You Around', Reinekke Lengelle. 'Using Dialogue to Move On with My Life', Lynda Heines. 'Writing a Sketchbook', Angie Butler. 'When I Get Old', Judy Clinton. 10. Developing Mindfulness. Edited by Kate Thompson. 'Mindful Moments', David Oldham. 'Writing a Haiku', Carolyn Henson. 'Lost Heart', Elaine Trevitt. 'Loneliness', Julie Sanders. 'I Have a Dream...', Ronna Jevne. 'Conversation with a Ponderosa Pine', Susan Wirth Fusco. 'Frustration and Me', Janice Putrino. 'Searching My Soul through Cyberspace', Christine Nutt. 11. Signals, Lines, and Reflections: Writing on Trains, Fiona Hamilton. Appendix 1. Writing Routes Map: Themes. Appendix 2. Writing Routes Map: Types of Writing. Appendix 3. Contributor Biographies. Bibliography.