Testimonials

What People Are Saying

Writing in Community: Say Goodbye to Writer’s Block and Transform Your Life

“A book that shows you how to start and nurture a writing group should be clear, well-written, rock-solid, inspiring—and this one is! My highest possible recommendation for this book. You’ll find real help and humor in Writing in Community.” — Marge Saiser, author of Beside You at the Spotlight

“These writers have great authority and experience on this topic. They write ideas that are fresh and new with profound potential for empowering readers as writers, connecting them with honest, authentic peers.” – Mary Pipher, author of The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture and Writing to Change the World.

“Reading this book is inspiring me to write more. Especially poems, which can so easily slip through the cracks of everyday living. I find myself wondering during each reading session whom I might invite into a writing group.” – Sue Patton Thoele, author of The Mindful Woman and the Courage to be Yourself, among others.

“[This is] a book on writing that encourages a deeper relationship with creativity and the act of writing in the spirit of Brenda Euland’s If You Want to Write and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones“. – Suzy Vitello, author of The Moment Before, The Empress Chronicles and The Keepsake.

“Suggested exercises, a wealth of insights, and inspirational anecdotes pepper this excellent motivational resource!” – The Midwest Book Review

The Fire Inside: A Companion for the Creative Life

“Beginning with “Say Yes to Creativity” and all the way through twelve chapters to “Just Do It,” The Fire Inside is jam-packed with ideas, tips, suggestions, inspiration and general cheering-on. Lucy Adkins and Becky Breed’s newest book indeed lights a fire and tells us how to keep the flames burning. Whether using the book as a daily dose of inspiration or a straight-through read (and read again and again), writers and creators of all stripes will be grateful for this lively companion for their life, creative and otherwise.” – Judy Reeves, author of A Writer’s Book of Days and Wild Women, Wild Voices

“The best books about writing are the ones that don’t read like books about writing, but instead feel like conversations with a wise friend who is sitting beside you as you write, encouraging and guiding you every step of the way. That is the kind of book Adkins and Breed have written, again. Like their first book, Writing in Community: Say Goodbye to Writer’s Block and Transform Your Life, this book, The Fire Inside, is sure to find a space on the shelf nearest your favorite writing spot and will become one of the most dog-eared books on that shelf. There is inspiration on every page.” – Karen Gettert Shoemaker, author of The Meaning of Names

“The Fire Inside is packed with stories, lessons and exercises that encourage readers to grow their creative souls. Written by two empathic educators, this book is practical and passionate, accepting and challenging. It is impossible to read The Fire Inside and not be inspired to follow our dreams. I recommend it to all artists and artists to be.” – Mary Pipher, author of Writing to Change the World and Women Rowing North

“A warm and welcome conversation for those searching for their creative identity. Lucy Adkins and Becky Breed offer insights on how to pursue creative passion in the midst of the everyday in order to live a soul-filling, expansive life. Absolutely inspiring.” — Tosca Lee, New York Times bestseller author

“If ever there was a book that could help the aspiring creative past the fear of finding and exercising the creative potential that stirs within all beings, it is this book: The Fire Inside: A Companion for the Creative Life. And a faithful companion it is. Lucy Adkins and Becky Breed have written a book that invites us to come forward with such intelligence and grace as to be irresistible. On every page they speak to the creative process and the creative spirit with a clarity that allows the reader to recognize the fire inside and believe in it as rightfully theirs. If you bring this wonderful book home, and hold it close, you will never walk alone in the vast field that is creative living.” – Philip Kenney, author of The Writer’s Crucible

“A fine companion for anyone looking to begin or deepen a creative life. Filled with practical advice on getting started, nurturing inspiration, and connecting with other seekers in your community, The Fire Inside offers meditative and effective writing prompts that will help you observe the world and yourself in a more significant way.” –Theodore Wheeler, author of In Our Other Lives