Customer Reviews

Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way

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My friend who was student teaching fourth graders at the time, told me about this book. She knew I wanted to start writing again, but was unsure of where and how to start. When I finally got ahold of Georgia's suggestions and life examples, I realized how difficult I was making it all out to be. Ms. Heard has helped me take my pen in hand again and I have been a happier person ever since. This book is one that you can take from the shelf over and over again, getting something different everytime you read it. I really appreciate her way of making every writer feel that their work is important - finding the joy in every piece of writing. I realized through her book that my writing, whether private or published, is a gift.

This must be the most accessible book on how to live and communicate one's life through poetry simultaneously. As a former Georgia Heard (a most gracious educator whose life is her work) student, I can honestly say I have gained so much valuable insight into my own writing and teaching from using this companion (book). It is a must for those "re-visionists"; those who want desperately to communicate experiences and to see these experiences take on new lives of their own. If you enjoy poetry, you should not be without this timeless guide for writing.

This book is similar in theory and style to Natalie Goldberg's WRITING DOWN THE BONES. The author, Heard, uses home as a metaphor for wholeness one gains from the writing experience. There are 57 short chapters with witty titles, such as "Writing Is Like Making Tortillas," "From an Onion to My Grandmother," "Whispering into the Air," and "Try Woodworking." The best aspect about the book for me is that the act of writing is demystified and seen as a necessary and important human activity. We see this through the struggles of the author and those she meets. One of the best examples of this demystifying process is in the chapter "Poetry Inside Us All." The author describes going on a Navajo reservation to work with students and teachers. One man told her he had no poetry inside him. She asked him to tell her something he taught his students about Navajo culture. He then described how the months divide the seasons, how the "yellow of summer meets the white of winter." Heard writes of how his colleagues then told him, "That sounds like poetry to me [us]." Surprised he cried, "That's poetry? I thought it had to rhyme." This is one of my favorite chapters in the book because it blasts preconceived expectations about what poetry is. Heard offers a variety of prompts at the ends of the chapters to get one's creativity flowing, and they are very effective, I think. For instance, there are exercises on facing your inner critics, keeping the creative channel open, and discovering original metaphors. This is a book that can be used by people at all levels, from beginners to more experienced and even published writers. It's a very good book for the person who needs inspiration but can't take a writing class.

I used this book in my high school English class, and remembered how helpful this was. I ordered one for myself after I graduated, and now use it to sharpen writing ideas that were stuck in my mind. I am able to get my thoughts down onto paper, and they are more vibrant than what they were in my head. A great read for aspiring writers and poets!

I purchased this book to help me keep consistent with my journaling. On the days I "drew blank" when I took pen and pad in hand, I read a chapter of this book. I enjoyed the exercises and the experience. I may pull it out again for next year's journal to see what I come up with then.

This book changed my life! I became the writer I dreamed I could be. After years of silence, my soul sang. Ms. Heard showed me where the breadcrumbs were in the forest, and I found my way back home. Buy it. Read it