Writing to Heal the Soul Transforming Grief and Loss Through Writing

Susan Zimmermann's firstborn, Katherine, was a perfectly healthy baby - until she turned one year old. At that time, she was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare neurological disease. Now in her early twenties, she functions at the level of an infant.Faced with her daughter's devastating illness, Susan sank beneath layers of fear, denial, guilt, all combined with an unwavering love. For years, she crammed her life full of activities to avoid confronting the magnitude of her loss. Not until she started writing, working through her conflicting emotions on the page, was she able to move beyond the pain to a place of gratitude and joy.WRITING TO HEAL THE SOUL is her gift to others who find themselves facing grief or loss, whether through death, disability, illness, divorce, or other difficulties. It offers clear, simple exercises to focus the writing process, vivid examples from men and women on the same path, and an exploration of the stratagems of journaling, grief work, and creative writing - all aimed at giving readers the courage to pick up a pen and achieve a new level of understanding and acceptance.

Susan Zimmermann is the author of the memoir Grief Dancers, a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, and coauthor of Mosaic of Thought, a book on reading comprehension. She speaks throughout the United States on the healing power of writing and ways to deepen reading and writing experiences for adults and children. Susan lives in the foothills west of Denver with her husband and four children.