"When I kept silent, my body wasted away through mygroaaning all day long." Psalm 32:3

In a few simple words, thePsalmist recounts the experience of his soul's captivity; not behind bars made of steel, but of silence. Silence of his own "making." That the human being enjoys the ability to express itself implies that it should in fact express itself. And as in the case of King David, the act of locking away our grief can do more than simply confine its expression, for to confine is often to consume.

In Pain and Possibility, Dr. Gabriele Rico offers a way out for our words; a way to lead them up out of dark emotional chambers and set them breathing in the sun. Using the clustering process first introduced in her outstanding best-seller Writing the Natural Way, Dr. Rico leads the reader not away from, but directly into the storm. Into chaos. Into the downward spiral. Into the free association of ideas and images that form the clustering model. It is this model that helps us give shape to our feelings through the use of language.

The reader's guide on this journey is no novice. While encouraging the reader to enter the emotional turbulence of pain, Dr. Rico does not simply stand outside it shouting advice, but herself confronts a childhood trauma created by the sudden loss of her mother. Through a series of deliberate creative exercises - in which pain is named, "framed," and released - she takes her readers down the spiral of pain in order to lead them up again.

For expressive beings, words are the key. Once identified, named and explored, our pain can be owned. Once owned, it is ours to let go; this book tells us how. No special equipment or skill is required. Only a willingness to use what is already ours: an ability to express ourselves, and a desire to be free.

It's like broccoli. Good for you, but you don't enjoy eating it. Rico has some great ideas for tapping the creative power of your "right" brain, but you need to be fairly "left" brained to read the book without dozing. I think her ideas and techniques ARE effective, but the book reads like a college text. Also, the book is clearly written with the poet in mind. Most of her examples and exercises center on poetry. Other writers will probably walk away from the book feeling a little left out and wondering exactly how to apply her techniques to longer forms of writing (i.e., short stories and novels). Still, if you've ever had trouble writing because your left brain overpowers your right and forces you to hit the DELETE key after every other sentence, then this book will help you establish balance -- if you stay awake long enough to finish it!

Here's the scientific way to becoming a writer -- that is, by using right brain techniques to release your expressive powers: clustering, recurrence, revision (meaning re-seeing), image and metaphor, creative tension, trial web and language rhythm.

Rico begins by teaching the reader how to release the "inner writer." Her method is one of brainstorming, but she calls it clustering. It's free association designed to call the subconcious into creative action. It works. It's the modern and scientific adaptation of a technique Dorothea Brande wrote about in the 1930s in BECOMING A WRITER.

Most writers like to watch their words appear on paper -- or on the computer screen. Then we read them to see what we think. I call it writing from the heart; Rico calls it right brain activity. Whatever you call it, it works, it's useful and learning to use it can change your writing -- for the better -- forever.

No serious writer should be without this book, no matter what he/she writes. Don't just read it, do the exercises. They're fun, they'll surprise and enlighten you and whether you're a novice or a pro, they'll make you a better writer.

This book inspired me to write, and it offered great practical advice with the technique of clustering and writing with my Design mind. Rico helped me to realize that anything I wanted to write was already inside, waiting to be tapped. Using Rico's techniques, I am able to write in ways that continue to astound me. I have used her techniques to write papers as a student in classes, as well as to write on my own. I am now a published writer of fiction and non-fiction, and I continue to use her ideas and inspiration.