A Braided Heart provides a friendly, personal, and smart guide to the writing life. It also offers clear and original instruction on craft elements at the forefront of today’s emerging forms in creative nonfiction: from the short-short, to the braided form, to the hermit crab essay. An acknowledged expert in these forms, Brenda Miller gives writers practical advice on how to sustain and invigorate their writing practice, while also encouraging readers to explore their own writing lives. “Brenda Miller writes so beautifully in these lyrical and ‘braided’ essays—personal meditations that take us deep into the miracle of writing itself. Her eye is always alert, her ear wonderfully tuned to the nuances of perception. The art of the essay is alive and well in her hands.”  —Jay Parini, author of  Borges and Me "Miller soars when she captures such personal, vivid details…solid and practical…aspiring writers will find some sound advice.” — Publishers Weekly ― Publishers Weekly "In  A Braided Heart,  Brenda Miller delivers a master class on the composition and appreciation of autobiographical essays. ...It exemplifies as much as it teaches, citing everyone from Mark Doty to Virginia Woolf as it encourages readers to embrace a reflective mindset, drawing connections between life experiences and pinpointing moments of meaning."  - Shelf Awareness   ― Shelf Awareness Published On: 2021-07-13 " A Braided Heart  is a pot of perfectly steeped tea with two cups. The book is a testament to the tensile strength of essay. No matter how the form is bent, so long as the writer remains in conversation, the connection maintains, this friendship through words."  —Kelly K. Ferguson,  Brevity  -- Kelly K. Ferguson ― Brevity Published On: 2021-10-21 “In essays that mirror the forms they are examining, A Braided Heart teaches us how to more beautifully, more honestly, more authentically write. Whether through challah, ikebana, or fan letters, Miller takes the outer world we live in and meditates upon those ideas to highlight how we can better understand ourselves and our world of writing.” —Sean Prentiss, Norwich University   ― Sean Prentiss Brenda Miller is Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University.