Review
Cathy is the person who first told me to write about my mental health when I was nervous to do so. She is a great writer herself and this [is] brilliant. -- Matt Haig, bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and The Midnight Library
A gentle, wise and witty book that will take you by the hand and guide your words onto the page - I truly wish I'd read it before I began to write. -- Raynor Winn, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Salt Path and The Wild Silence
Cathy has an extraordinary gift for helping people tell their stories and you need this gently inspirational book in your life. -- Nina Stibbe, author of the award-winning Love, Nina and Reasons to Be Cheerful
A wonderful, inspiring and practical book...This is a gift of a book to aspiring writers, and any writer. Cathy has mined her own experience, heart and wisdom to guide us gently in to putting words on a page, and those pages building to a book. I recommend this book to anyone who wants inspiration, concrete tips and encouragement to write. -- Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass
I’ve been so inspired by Cathy’s generous wisdom, and I can hear her voice in these pages...[Write It All Down] is full of wonderful advice, but above all it feels like having an encouraging friend by your side. -- Catherine Cho, author of Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness
I can remember Cathy encouraging me too, when I wasn't sure I could pull off a memoir. She's clearly the right person to be writing this book. -- Sophie Heawood, author of The Hungover Games
Please read this book…Warm, wise, helpful and practical, Cathy Rentzenbrink outlines all the reasons we come up with not to write and then lovingly tells us to get on with it… I loved it. Kindness and encouragement brim from every page. -- Marianne Power, author of Help Me!: How Self-Help Has Not Changed My Life
Cathy Rentzenbrink's Write It All Down is typically generous thoughtful and kind. If you’re thinking of writing memoir this is the book for you. -- Marina Benjamin, author of Last Days in Babylon, The Middlepause, and Insomnia
I love this book. It’s personal and intimate and full of exactly the kind of wisdom I need most days, told exactly how I need it told. It’ll bring many stories into the world, and for that it’s invaluable. -- David Whitehouse, award-winning author of Bed, Mobile Library and The Long Forgotten
I've spent the morning chatting with Cathy Rentzenbrink, even though she's at the other end of the country and completely unaware of our tête à tête. What a gift: to write yourself onto my sofa, gently explaining me to myself. What a writer. -- Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Listen and With The End In Mind
I loved the whole thing...It was good to see a lot of the places I've got to with my own writing practice reflected in Cathy's suggestions. -- Meg-John Barker, author of Rewriting the Rules and Life Isn't Binary
Astonishingly good, not just on how to write about your life, but why to as well.' - Steve Biddulph, bestselling author of 'Raising Boys'
About the Author
Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache,Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books and Everyone Is Still Alive. It took her twenty years to wrestle her own life story on the page and she loves to use what she has learnt about the profound nature of writing the self in the service of others. Cathy has taught for Arvon, Curtis Brown Creative, at Falmouth University and at festivals and in prisons, and welcomes anyone, no matter what their experience, education, background or story. She believes that everyone’s life would be improved by picking up a pen and is at her happiest when encouraging her students to have the courage to delve into themselves and see the magic that will start to happen on the page.