When Sue Monk Kidd was in high school, a home economics teacher wrote a list of potential occupations for women on the blackboard: teacher, nurse, librarian, secretary. “Writer” was nowhere to be found. On that day, Kidd shut the door on her writerly aspirations and would not revisit the topic until many years later when she announced to her husband and two children that she was going to become a writer. And so began her journey into the mysteries and methods of the writerly life.
In Writing Creativity and Soul, Sue Monk Kidd will pull from her own life and the lives of other writers (Virginia Woolf, Maya Angelou, Harper Lee, and many others) to provide a map for anyone who has ever felt lost as a writer. At the heart of this book is the unwavering belief that writing is a spiritual act, one that draws inspiration from the soul, that wellspring of creativity between imagination and feeling. "Once you tap into that part of yourself", said Maya Angelou, "there are only three more things you need as a writer: something to say, the ability to say it, and, perhaps most difficult of all, the courage to say it."
Writing Creativity and Soul will be published October 21, 2025. Knopf Books provided an early galley for review.
As an amateur writer for most of my life, I find it interesting to look into the creative process and approach of those who found success in the profession.
This book is a mix of memoir telling her story and tips for other writers. Kidd shares the insights of what has worked for her over the course of writing her four novels over the last several decades. She strikes a gentle tone in that often she offers various approaches to tasks with an example of how she approached them. There is no "thou must" to be found here. It makes for a pleasant, easy read. While truly insightful for beginner writers, I am sure there are nuggets here that even the more seasoned writers can mine.
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