Beall, the founder of Chicago Story Press Literary Journal, offers encouragement for aspiring authors who might be struggling with excessive self-criticism. Her advice ranges from the practical (use conflict to engage readers' attention) to the therapeutic ("A growth mindset says, If this is hard, it's because I'm learning"). She advises writers who are having trouble getting their words down on paper that a messy first draft is better than no draft at all, urging us to avoid the perfectionism that stymies creativity. "When you let go of perfection," she writes, "writing can become joyful."

Much of the book is aimed at people who are trying to write about past trauma. Beall suggests ways to frame the story so that those being written about don't get offended or litigious. In one of the book's more helpful statements, she points out that painting others as purely villainous scans as inauthentic and results in flat writing. A story that portrays even dodgy characters with nuance and understanding is more likely to resonate because it takes into account the complexity of our humanity. First-time authors who are suffering a crisis of confidence may find solace in Beall's writing.

The book is especially valuable for its allusions to and quotations from the works of established authors such as Anne Lamott and Natalie Goldberg. It's reassuring, for example, to know that even John Steinbeck wrote in his journal, "I'm not a writer. I've been fooling myself and other people." The guided visualizations and breathing exercises included at the end of each chapter—encouraging readers, for example, to imagine themselves walking along the beach—feel superfluous to the larger project. But Beall's openness about her own traumas sends a warm wind of honesty breezing through the book, and her advice is well-intentioned and apt.

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