Recommended Writing Texts
I’ve linked what titles I can to Bookshop.org in an effort to support independent bookstores. Please order from your local brick-and-mortar store if possible.
Getting Started
Baldwin, Christina. Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice. New York: Bantam, 1990.
Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. New York: TarcherPerigree, 1992.
Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 1986. 
Lamott, Anne. Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.
Developing the Craft
Andrew, Elizabeth Jarrett. Living Revision: A Writer’s Craft as Spiritual Practice. Boston, MA: Skinner House Books, 2018.
Andrew, Elizabeth Jarrett. Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art & Practice of Spiritual Memoir. Boston, MA: Skinner House Books, 2000.
Andrew, Elizabeth Jarrett. The Release: Creativity and Freedom After the Writing is Done. Boston, MA: Skinner House Books, 2024.
Barrington, Judith. Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art. Portland, OR: The Eighth Mountain Press, 2002.
Forche, Carolyn and Philip Gerard, eds. Writing Creative Nonfiction. Cincinatti, OH: Story Press, 2001.
Gornick, Vivian. The Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002.
Miller, Brenda and Suzanne Paola. Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005.
Moore, Dinty. The Mindful Writer. New York: Wisdom Publications, 2016.
Willis, Meredith Sue. Deep Revision: A Guide for Teachers, Students, and Other Writers. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1993. 
Zinsser, William, ed. Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Zinsser, William, ed. Spiritual Quests: The Art and Craft of Religious Writing. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
The Art of… (series). Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press.
Exploring the Process
Bayles, David and Ted Orland. Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. Santa Cruz, CA: Saint Paul, MN: Image Continuum Press, 2001.
Bradbury, Ray. Zen in the Art of Writing: Releasing the Creative Genius Within You. New York: Bantam, 1992.
DeSalvo, Louise. Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives. Boston, MA: Beacon Press,1999.
Dillard, Annie. The Writing Life. New York: HarperCollins, 1989.
King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York: Scribner, 2000.
Pressfield, Steven. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. New York: Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2012.
Stafford, William. Writing the Australian Crawl. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1978.
Creative Philosophy
Daido Loori, John. The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.
Gardner, John. On Moral Fiction. New York: Basic Books, 1978.
Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World. New York: Vintage, 1983.
Loori, John Daido. The Zen of Creativity. New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.
O’Connor, Flannery. Mystery and Manners. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1957.
Turchi, Peter. Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2007.
Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit. Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 1987.
Ueland, Brenda. Strength to Your Sword Arm. Duluth, MN: Holy Cow! Press, 1996.
Writing as a Spiritual Practice
Hering, Karen. Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within. Hillsboro, OR: Atria Books/Beyond Words, 2013.
Schneider, Pat. How the Light Gets In. Oxford University Press 2013