The Healing Power of Writing a Book

Unfortunately, tragedy and suffering are universal and affect almost everyone at some point in their lives. Estimates suggest that over 70% of people worldwide have experienced at least one traumatic incident, such as a car accident, serious illness, natural disaster, abuse, or unexpected loss. These and other hardships can be life-altering and leave lasting emotional scars.?

Finding a positive outlet like writing a book can help survivors work through the confusing and painful feelings that tragedy often causes. By publishing your personal story, you’ll be able to inspire readers who have suffered similar misfortunes and make them feel less alone. Here’s why you should consider sharing your hard-earned wisdom through writing a book.?

Why Trauma Survivors Should Write a Book?

Expressive writing has long been used as a tool to help trauma survivors heal. Many people find that telling their story is a cathartic experience, even if they begin by simply jotting down their unfiltered thoughts and feelings in a journal. Freewriting can form the basis for a powerful nonfiction book and help you make sense of what happened to you. Let’s dive deeper into how writing can facilitate trauma recovery.?

Validate Your Trauma?

Sometimes we minimize the impact of our pain and trauma on our lives to protect ourselves emotionally. We may tell ourselves that our story isn’t significant enough to share or doesn’t matter. Denial can be a defense mechanism that helps us avoid distressing feelings and cope day-to-day. Societal messages that pressure survivors into staying silent can also cause us to invalidate our own experiences.?

Experts say that continuously burying your trauma can be harmful to your mental health in the long run. Although it’s difficult to confront painful memories, dealing with them may help you feel lighter, happier, and more self-actualized. Embarking on the healing journey of writing a book can help you finally embrace your truth without denying or downplaying it.?

When you’re used to putting on a brave face, it can be challenging to open up to friends, loved ones, and even mental health professionals. Writing allows you to unload the emotional burden you’ve been carrying without any fear of judgment. The pages of your manuscript can absorb your anger, sadness, and pain, allowing you to release and process negative feelings that have been pent up. Once you get comfortable pouring your heart out on paper, you’ll likely find it easier to share your story with others.?

Improve Your Mental Health and Well-Being

Experts say that trauma can change the way our body and brain respond to perceived threats. Sounds, smells, and other stimuli that remind us of the hardship we endured can kick our nervous system into overdrive. This state of “high alert” can cause unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms like anxiety, trouble focusing, muscle tension, brain fog, insomnia, and more. These reactions often happen on a subconscious level, making them hard to control or avoid.?

Therapeutic approaches like CBT and EMDR are the gold standard treatments. However, recent studies have found that writing is another promising intervention. According to Psychology Today, journaling about your experiences could potentially be as helpful as recounting them to a therapist. Expressive writing has also been shown to increase resilience and mental clarity while decreasing anxiety, insomnia, and depression.

Drafting a manuscript gives us a safe space to work through unresolved experiences, which can help provide some closure. Writing also engages both the analytical and emotional parts of our brains and teaches us how to process experiences with a healthy balance of logic and emotion. Gaining this skill can improve your mental well-being and make it easier to self-regulate.?

Foster Self-Reflection

Authors usually learn a great deal about themselves during the writing process. Drafting a manuscript is a solitary, introspective experience that gives you plenty of time to reflect. As you delve deeper into your experiences, you may uncover aspects of your personality, values, or beliefs that you weren’t fully aware of before. This heightened level of self-insight is critical to personal growth and healing.?

Reclaim Your Power

When bad things happen to us that are outside of our control, it’s easy to feel powerless and hopeless. Trauma can overwhelm the part of our brain responsible for solving problems, causing some survivors to become “stuck” and unable to move forward in their lives. Writing can help you turn a new page and get out of a slump by reframing your experiences in a different light.?

Instead of seeing yourself as helpless or a victim of circumstance, you’ll begin to recognize how many times you’ve pulled yourself out of difficult situations and persevered. This shift in your thought patterns will enable you to reclaim your power, changing how you go about your life for the better.??

For example, author Roxane Gay felt like her self-esteem and voice was stolen after being assaulted. She turned to writing to find herself again, saying: “I wrote myself back together. I wrote myself toward a stronger version of myself.” Writing helped her realize that her words are “powerful beyond measure,” giving her the ability to reach other survivors and show them their worth.?

Roxane turned her pain into purpose and motivation, becoming a celebrated feminist author, professor, and speaker. She also found a silver lining in her experience, acknowledging that it gave her writing a fierce, unflinching quality it wouldn’t have had otherwise. Roxane’s journey demonstrates that searching for meaning after tragedy can help us find a new mission and path forward.

Empower Others and Build Your Legacy

Writing a book will not only boost your mental and physical well-being, but also help others who have been through something similar. As humans, we long to know that we aren’t alone, and often turn to others to make sense of our emotional wounds. Your story could inspire and empower others who are on their own healing journey. Raising your voice will help create a feeling of connection and community among survivors, breaking down the barriers of self-isolation that trauma frequently creates. Additionally, your book may raise awareness about the type of trauma you endured, increasing public understanding and support.?

Writing a manuscript also secures your legacy and ensures that your story will live on. Knowing that your book will continue to help future generations can give you a sense of closure, meaning, and peace.?

How to Get Started?

Drafting a manuscript is more than a creative exercise—it’s a journey of self-exploration. Writing for healing allows you to gain clarity, process your emotions, and find meaning through your experiences. Sharing your story can be transformative, shaping your life and the lives of others.?

While the process of telling your story may be challenging at times, try to embrace the journey and look forward to the rewards that writing brings. If you’re struggling to get started, Nancy can get you over that hump with individual support. Her guidance and proven book writing process will enable you to overcome creative blocks and become a published author in just one year.?

First, Nancy helps clients create a Purpose Statement that summarizes your book’s mission in a single sentence. Similar to an elevator pitch, your Purpose Statement identifies your target audience and describes the results your book will empower your readers to achieve. Keeping this vision in mind as you write your manuscript will help you stay focused on your main message and avoid diversions or tangents.?

Nancy also teaches authors how to create BookMAPs, which are a visual representation of each chapter that eliminate writer’s block. In your first BookMAP, you’ll describe what life was like before, during, and after your hardship. Then you’ll create a second BookMAP detailing the coping mechanisms you discovered to deal with and work through your trauma. With these book blueprints by your side, you’ll never wonder what to write next, and you’ll finish your book faster and without frustration.?

Here are some additional tips to kickstart your writing journey.?

Create a Comforting Environment?

It's important to create a comfortable environment when you're writing about sensitive, emotionally charged topics. Feeling safe will enable you to open up and be vulnerable. To put yourself at ease, you could light your favorite candle, drink soothing herbal tea, or wrap yourself in a warm blanket. These simple pleasures will relax your nervous system and help bring you out of the fight, flight, or freeze responses that sometimes occur when trying to process trauma.?

You may also find it supportive to end your sessions with a self-care ritual that refills your cup. You could wrap up your writing exercise with a grounding body scan or check in with a writing buddy if you’re journaling about something particularly difficult. Going for a nature walk or listening to calming music can also reorient you in the present moment after exploring challenging emotions from the past.?

Freewrite Authentically?

The best way to begin telling your story is to freewrite and get all your memories and emotions down on paper. Don’t limit yourself by trying to follow a certain narrative structure or storyline. Worrying about pacing, style, or grammar may stop the stream of ideas, so ignore those finer details for now. Allowing your thoughts to flow and your mind to wander will help you generate connections and insights that will eventually form the backbone of your memoir’s message.?

At this stage, it’s also important to release yourself from any worries or assumptions about how your story may be perceived by others. Just focus on capturing your authentic experience without editing or censoring yourself.??

Take Breaks and Go at Your Own Pace

Writing about tragedy can be physically and emotionally draining. Accessing the memories surrounding your trauma can be triggering and uncomfortable, so monitor how you’re feeling and take breaks as needed. It may also be helpful to rate the intensity of the scene you’re planning to write from one to ten. You might need to tackle emotional memories in shorter writing bursts to avoid overwhelm, or even consult with a therapist before starting. Experts say that you can still benefit from expressive writing even if you only journal for 10 or 20 minutes. So don’t be afraid to go at your own pace and build up the length of your writing sessions slowly over time.?

Use Expressive Writing Prompts?

If you find yourself getting mired in the facts and details of your story, using an expressive writing prompt can help you zoom out and see the bigger picture. Some studies have found that creating meaning through your writing is crucial for healing. Focusing on interpreting the event and unpacking its personal impact can help you progress in your recovery.?

Experts also believe that it’s important to develop awareness of the positive effects that stressful experiences have had on your life. If most of your freewriting has a negative slant, it may be helpful to choose a more optimistic, hopeful prompt to gain fresh perspective. If you need some inspiration, here are a few ideas and questions to explore in your next writing session.?

• Write a letter to your past self explaining how your life has unfolded and how you’ve grown since the stressful event. Include any lessons or wisdom you think would help or comfort this version of yourself.?
• Explore how your trauma has affected other areas of your life (for better and worse), such as your relationships, career, and worldview.?
• Are there any aspects of your personal tragedy that you feel grateful for? Perhaps you received donations after a natural disaster or exceptional care during a hospital stay.?
• Are there any false beliefs you’re holding onto surrounding your trauma that are no longer serving you? For example, children often blame themselves for things that are outside of their control, such as the loss of a loved one.
• Write down some of the positive qualities that you love about yourself. Have any of these character traits helped you recover? Were any of them born out of the stress you experienced, such as your resilience or empathy??
• Jot down what you’d say to encourage a family member or friend going through the same thing. Now try to extend this compassion to yourself.?

Be Patient With Yourself?

Healing from a traumatic experience isn’t a linear process, so be patient with yourself. Although writing can support your recovery, remember that there are no magic cures or fixes for trauma. Progress can occur in fits and starts, so it’s normal to feel like you’re taking one step forward and two steps back at times. Be kind to yourself when you have setbacks and seek out support from loved ones or mental health professionals as needed.?

Having the courage to begin your healing journey through writing is a big first step that should be celebrated. Make sure to give yourself credit for all the hard work that you’re putting in.?

Narrow Down Your Experiences

Sharing your story allows you to gain a sense of purpose from your trauma by helping others going through similar ordeals. However, your message of hope and inspiration won’t come across to readers if you publish disconnected journal entries. In order to properly communicate the wisdom you’ve gained, you must organize your thoughts into a cohesive narrative.?

Although it may be tempting to share every major life event, there are certain pieces of your story that may not be relevant to the lessons you’re trying to impart. That’s why you need to follow your BookMAPs and Purpose Statement. Keeping this central vision in mind as you review your journal entries will help you figure out which insights and experiences to include. Leftover material can always be turned into a follow-up memoir or repurposed into blog content to further engage readers.?

Turning your experiences into a compelling narrative can be a challenge. To hook readers and get them invested, it’s important to build the stakes right at the beginning of the book. For that reason, writing in chronological order may not be the best approach. Working with a book coach to nail the pacing and sequencing of your memoir will ensure your book stands shoulder to shoulder with the best on the market.

Finding someone you trust to treat your story with the care it deserves is essential. Nancy has helped dozens of overcomers share their truth and craft impactful nonfiction books. Her kind, compassionate approach will put you at ease and help you navigate each phase of the writing and publishing process without stress.