Nava Atlas presents twelve celebrated women authors and draws on their diaries, letters, memoirs, and interviews to show how they expressed their views on the subjects of importance to every writer, from carving out time to write, to conquering their inner demons, to developing a "voice," to balancing the demands of family life with needs to write. Atlas provides her own illuminating commentary as well and reveals how the lessons of classic women writers of the past still resonate with women writing today.

Includes bibliographical references.