What could be a clearer or simpler book title than WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL? What could be more difficult, even mysterious, to interpret or decode?

In four very basic, unpunctuated English words, renowned American memoirist, novelist and essayist Sue Monk Kidd distills the essence of her passion for prose --- not only as an act bordered by traditions, conventions and rules, but as a lifelong experience of discovering the unknown through deceptively familiar terrain.

Kidd, who has been writing for nearly half a century, often alludes to how long it took her to find the path into a full-time career, and to being on the slow side when it comes to completing books that speak fully and harmoniously enough to satisfy her. Three or four years from start to finish is her norm, but the detailed diligence she pours into her art has paid off in four bestselling novels, such as THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, and four critically acclaimed nonfiction works, including the powerful TRAVELING WITH POMEGRANATES, written with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor (a gifted author in her own right).

"Not just for writers, but for avid readers and creative spiritual explorers everywhere, WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL is an exquisite must-read."

Although it rightly could be described as part memoir, part guide to the wordsmith’s art, and part journal of a personal heart-and-soul quest, WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL is not written in a directive, how-to style. If anything, Kidd has created a brilliant book about how not to tell aspiring writers what to do!

This is where the element of soul comes in, not so much in a theological or purely spiritual sense. But for women in particular, soul is where the expression of our creative passions originates. Kidd reveals that writers’ souls are often held captive for decades --- or for life --- by social conventions and expectations.

Being almost an exact contemporary of hers, I too can recall those truly cringeworthy high school classes where teachers or guidance counselors showed us lists of gender-appropriate careers for young women. Professional writing was never on them. Aiding and abetting them were well-meaning but tone-deaf family and friends who responded to one’s literary aspirations by saying that writing is a very nice “hobby,” but we’d have to land a “real job” as well. Or preferably get married to a man with a real job and have kids, with (of course) a little “spare time” for writing.

That was a non-starter for Kidd. She experienced all of that, in soul-destroying amounts, yet persevered for years until her personal advocacy strengthened enough to emerge and the times had changed just enough for her to be taken seriously.

What I appreciate about WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL is that the author’s very justified complaints about gender stereotypes and the marginalization of female writers do not overwhelm this multilayered book. Kidd is clear, direct and uncompromising about the shortcomings of the American Deep South’s social and educational milieu in which she grew up, but she leaves it at that and moves on to explore the shared imaginative elements to which writers from any background can relate.

Without setting up rigid lists of tricks or techniques, she opens up her own vulnerabilities to relate what has both thwarted and helped in her own quest to free great ideas from their unexpressed homes within a writer’s soul and give them birth in language that fills them with color, emotion and impact. She seems to be urging writers to believe in their ideas first, and belief in oneself will follow, which I see as a game-changing reversal of the usual inspirational mantra.

Another admirable element of the book is Kidd’s unwavering acknowledgment of great literary and philosophical voices --- among them, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Thomas Merton and Carl Jung --- who subtly resonate through her writing. You can’t write fully from the depths of your own soul without reading the best writing you can find by others, who learned over time and tribulation how the human soul can free itself onto paper.

Not just for writers, but for avid readers and creative spiritual explorers everywhere, WRITING CREATIVITY AND SOUL is an exquisite must-read.