Fruitflesh : Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Gayle Brandeis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2004

If you want to tap into your most authentic source of creativity -- if you hunger to express yourself, to free the stories that swirl within you -- thenFruitflesh was written for you. Structured around the growing cycle -- seeds, roots, trunk, branches, leaves, buds, flowers, and fruit -- this exquisite writing guide will encourage your self-awareness and confidence as a writer.

Drawing on the metaphor of the fruitfulness of women's bodies, author and poet Gayle Brandeis helps women gain access to their prolific power as the wellspring of great writing. "Give your fruitflesh the chance to express itself," urges Brandeis, "reclaim itself, honor and celebrate itself over and over again, both in your body and on the page. You are your own source of creative renewal."

Each section of this delightful guide begins and ends with a "Fruitflesh Meditation" -- an exercise centered on a particular fruit that will inspire, challenge, and provoke you to bring your body into the act of writing, adding a winsome, satisfying dimension to the creative process. Enlightening, witty, groundbreaking, and including many practical lessons, this distinctive approach to writing will take you out of drudgery and into the true source of your creative power.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When she was a senior in high school, Gayle Brandeis had an epiphany with a strawberry: instructed by a teacher to really look at the fruit, she wondered if she had every really looked at anything before. The poem she wrote that day "launched" her onto her "life's path" and changed her writing forever. In Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write, Brandeis uses fruit as a metaphor for sensual and creative exploration and women's bodies, too to meld writing advice and exercises with meditations that use produce to illuminate prose. ("Let your writing be like this feast [of a mango] bold, sensual, unapologetic.") Cynics and skeptics beware: with its garden-lush prose and fervent guilelessness, this is a book for the open-hearted believer.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Beautifully written, with gorgeous usage of language and metaphor.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Fruitflesh calls for some very juicy feasting!” (Sark, author of Succulent Wild Woman )

“Anyone immersing herself in Fruitflesh is sure to find her writing liberated, and enriched by the many stimulating exercises.” (Susan Perry, Ph.D., author of Writing in Flow )

"Gayle Brandeis shows us how to write sense-soaked prose and poetry that celebrates the embodiment of the life!" (Oriah Mountain Dreamer, author of The Invitation and The Dance )

“Lyrical, imaginative, beautifully crafted, and deeply intelligent. Before anything else, its characters take you by the heart.” (--Barbara Kingsolver on The Book of Dead Birds )

“[It] has an edgy beauty that enhances perfectly the seriousness of its contents.” (--Toni Morrison on The Book of Dead Birds )

“THE BOOK OF DEAD BIRDS is a story of healing--a skillful, textured weaving of dark and light.” (--Donna M. Gershten, author of Kissing the Virgin's Mouth, on The Book of Dead Birds )

“A moving and perceptive first novel.” (-- O magazine on The Book of Dead Birds ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• ISBN-10: 0060587180
• ASIN: B000C4SY9S
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,148,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (HarperSanFrancisco), The Book of Dead Birds: A Novel (HarperCollins), which won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for Fiction in Support of a Literature of Social Change, Self Storage (Ballantine), Delta Girls (Ballantine) and my first novel for young readers, My Life with the Lincolns (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers). The Book of Live Wires, the sequel to The Book of Dead Birds, is available now exclusively as an ebook. You can visit me at www.gaylebrandeis.com. It's always a pleasure to hear from readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely exhilarating--the one book on writing you need!, March 5, 2002

By 

JT "ultimato" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (Hardcover)

Oh my, oh my. There are a great many books out there on writing, but never have I seen one quite as amazing as this. Full of poetry and the lushest images around, Fruitflesh finds inspiration in the most surprising ways--and best of all, it does it effortlessly and with a great deal of fun and beauty. I just loved it--so much so that I bought two more copies to give to writer friends as gifts. And oh yes, it's just the kind of book you want around when you feel parched of ideas. Soothing and seductive and just wonderful. It does what all great art does--it gets you to look at the world differently.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing way to jumpstart your writing., November 26, 2003

By 

APD "blackspiral" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (Hardcover)

Unlike many writing books that offer random topics and one-liners to inspire your creativity, Fruitflesh takes your mind into your own life, mind and body from the perspective of a fruit -- organic, raw, growing, changing. On days when I think there is nothing to write about, I open Fruitflesh. If I don't find something new in myself to explore, I at least find a new way of seeing the writing process and how my life is very much connected with it. Fruitflesh sits on my writing desk, constantly waiting to be thumbed through and explored.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Springboard for Self-Discovery..., July 12, 2002

By 

"mcsheri" (Arlington, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (Hardcover)

Fruitflesh - Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write by Gayle Brandeis offers women writers a path to understanding their "life-essence" and their true reason for creating. As the beginnings of life sprout from a seed so does a woman writers words as she puts pen to paper. Gayle offers meditations and writing exercises that challenge writers to really go within - into their bodies and minds in search of their authentic selves. Fruitflesh is a springboard for self-discovery and a confirmation of the reasons we as women choose to write.

Sheri' L. McConnell, MAOM
Founder of the National Association of Women Writers - NAWW