Rewrite Your Life

“A step-by-step guide for writers struggling to create fiction from their life . . . delivers on its promise with such honesty, simplicity, and beauty.”—William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author

According to common wisdom, we all have a book inside of us. But how do we select and then write our most significant story—the one that helps us to evolve and invites pure creativity into our lives? In Rewrite Your Life, creative writing professor, sociologist, and popular fiction author Jess Lourey guides you through the redemptive process of writing a healing novel that recycles and transforms your most precious resources—your own emotions and experiences.

This fact-to-fiction process provides not only the essential building blocks of bestselling novels but is also personally transformative. Based on the process the author developed and field-tested in the wake of her husband’s suicide, Rewrite Your Life is devoted to the practice of discovering, healing, and evolving through fiction writing. It combines research, practical and engaging guidance, and personal experience to meet readers where they are and take their creativity and personal growth to the next level.

Tender, raw, and laugh-out-loud funny, Rewrite Your Life offers both a map and a compass for those seeking to harvest their life experiences to heal, lead a more authentic life, and craft a rich, powerful work of fiction.

“My favorite kind of self-help book: irreverent, personal, and superbly useful.”—Jen Mann, New York Times bestselling author of People I Want to Punch in the Throat

“A lively exploration of writing’s therapeutic value and an encouraging invitation to apply it to your life.”—Kendra Levin, author of The Hero Is You