One of the most important aspects of writing anything-- memoir, fiction, poetry--is the ability to remember. Sounds simple, but we forget so much naturally and are actively encouraged to forget what doesn't suit the needs of any particular group, usually family. Lynda Barry's wonderful primer on how to being to probe the images of your life is just grand
and will doubtless serve many artists and writers as they explore their lives and the lives of others. An exercise as simple as try to recall the earliest phone number you had and try to picture that phone seem so simple, but take you to places that you'd long forgotten.

Like everything by Barry, it's humane and masterful and compassionate and smart. A wonderful addition to any artist's desk.

Lynda Barry is idiosyncratic, funny, dreamy, hardcore etc. etc. She's also a practicing pragmatist. Anyone needing a refresher course on disassembling the obstacles to creativity could probably benefit from this book. The collages are elaborate, beautiful and tender but I think I actually like the hand drawn asides that bring the reader into the world of the artist's upbringing and self-talk, the area at which she's always excelled. It's by being herself that Barry becomes Everyman for every man and woman.

This life enhancing activity toybox of a book does not merely instruct, it transcends, uplifts, jumps levels, like a good fairy tale. Follow Lynda Barry's breadcrumb trail through the tangled forest of Creativity to uncover your own treasure chest of images, stories, and creative insights. This book is Lynda Barry's Gingerbread Cottage---with full instructions on how to bake and decorate your own. Five stars? Not nearly enough!

Lynda Barry is such an inspiration and all her publications are moving, hysterical, intense and inspiring. Her latest, "What It Is" is no exception. Through pages of wild collage, drawings, and her signature comic style Lynda guides us through a wild journey of creation. She asks us all to step out of the usual boxes we put ourselves in and try new ways of writing and creating. The main focus of the book is writing, but I find it visually so stimulating that I immediately want to go make some art after looking at it. It's a really fun book full of many invitations to play. I think it would be great for any creative person who is feeling stuck!

This is an amazing book. I have had the privilege of studying writing with Lynda Barry and all her encouragement, her insight, her quirky humor and unique exercises are right in this book. It is part comic, part collage, and part writing workshop. No other writing book takes the same creative approach or challenges our tired assumptions in the same liberating way. Every page delights with both art and heart. Buy it, treasure it, spend long afternoons examining and playing. Not a moment will be wasted.

This is the essence of the creative writing course Lynda Barry gives around the country these days. It conveys the course stuff beautifully, AND is a work of art in its own right. Not a rehash of her other books in any way, it just worms its way into your mind.

Every page is beautiful, every page contains insights into creativity, every page is just plain fun (or just scary fun), and it has everything you need to apply the writing method Lynda uses in your own work.

You really can write out of your own memories, and come up with something that isn't drivel. Get the book and try it. And join Lynda in tipping your hat to Marilyn Frasca, who originated the method.

Have you ever needed jumper cables to revive your creative process? This book is essentially just that.
I have long been a Lynda Barry fan, but this is what a sense will be an essential reference book for any creative type. It bores down into just what makes one want to create and suggests exercises and steps to get whatever festers inside you out.
To say that it has prompted me to fine tune my and understand my writing in much more depth would be an understatement. It also has gotten my to pick up my pencil and draw/sketch for the 1st time in over 15 years.
I am pretty sure i will be constantly reading and rereading this as i further hone the creation craft.
if you crave creation in any form, this book is a must.

This book has lifted my inspiration and creativity like nothing else in years! I'm writing a memoir!

I have really been enjoying this book. It's about how to do creative things, especially writing. I know that the answer is to stop reading self-help books and start doing creative things, but I am addicted. Plus, for some reason I haven't taken a creative writing class since, well, possibly ever, so the basic advice in this book really helped me. An excerpt:

"We notice that when people tell the story of their lives it often sounds like an obituary -- a lot of general information but almost no images. We notice also that journal writing has a rather similar quality to it, only instead of information we find a lot of writing about our feelings. The main feeling is discontent and worry, outrage, regret, despair, complaints, vague questions about life, hope of a transformation...we find a lot of writing, but almost no images!"

Whoah. I mean, duh. I mean, umm...I guess this is kind of obvious but I have never really thought about it before. Barry's main suggestion is to just write, using very simple words as prompts. I was previously aware of the idea of writing prompts, but mostly things like "what i did on my summer vacation," which tend to produce dry results like those mentioned above. So, I have been really found this book helpful and interesting, not to mention that it is full of fun cartoons and pictures and a magic cephalopod.

On the other hand, I felt that the book could have been a lot more compact. There were a lot of extra collages that were fine but didn't really do much for me except make me wonder if I had to read them all instead of skipping to the end. Also, I haven't quite finished the book yet, but so far all the writing advice applies to writing about things you have experienced. I'm hoping there's going to be something about developing fiction eventually, but I'm not sure there is.