Writing a Life

In Memoriam: A Tribute to Louise DeSalvo

Paying tribute to Louise DeSalvo, who recently passed away and whose work I have been following for years. Her books Writing as a Way of Healing and The Art of Slow Writing have taught me so much about the therapeutic benefits of a writing practice and the importance of valuing the creative process.


Photo: Deborah DeSalvo

Photo: Deborah DeSalvo

Louise DeSalvo 
(September 27, 1942 - October 31, 2018)
was an American writer, professor and Virginia Woolf scholar.


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I’ve been studying the creative process for years; have been talking about the writing process with students and writers for decades. I believe it’s important to learn how “real” writers write when they work. And to model their methods as we’re learning to work. I believe that it’s essential for us to understand the creative process and the stages of the process so that we can work with it, rather than against it. I also believe it’s important for us, not only to write, but to write about our writing in a process journal.
— Louise DeSalvo, from her blog “Writing a Life”
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