Your Turn: Ways to Celebrate Life Through Storytelling

“A well-told saga of recovery from loss and emotional breakdown, and a tribute to the ordinary blessings that made it possible.”

―Kirkus Reviews



“Telling stories and writing through your everyday stresses is the key takeaway in Your Turn. Dr. Tyra Manning believes that writing brings about clarity and hope in life. Her essential tools will help you get your inner thoughts onto paper and get you focused on the positives.”

―Parade



“Our worrisome thoughts can feel big, urgent, and uncontrollable. As Manning said, it can feel like we’re ‘getting caught in a whirlpool.’ While we might not be drowning physically, we’re drowning in negative chatter, she said. Even though our worries can feel overwhelming, we can shrink them. We can channel them into solutions―or we can reveal them for what they are: unhelpful, unreasonable, and illogical. The key is to know the difference. ”

―Psych Central



“Your Turn provides advice on composing even more precise, telling details that truly capture one’s life journey, and for anyone wishing to tell her/his story, it’s an unusually useful and specific handbook to guide one’s writing.”

―Coleen Grissom, Ph. D Professor of English Trinity University



“Your Turn’s friendly and accessible tone makes it seem as if you’re sitting down with a dear friend sharing stories over a cup of coffee, but Manning doesn’t shy away from the hard realities of life’s more challenging moments. The writing prompts and examples offer readers an opportunity to truly get to know themselves through their stories, and hers.”

―Bridget Boland, Modern Muse



“Part memoir, part self-help, part writing instruction, Your Turn encourages readers to become writers by offering thematic prompts and short bits of instruction all shared in Manning’s infectiously positive voice.”

―Lisa Glasgow, author advocate



“Drawing on her own challenging life experiences, Dr. Tyra Manning presents an invitation and a guide to all of us to celebrate our lives through storytelling. As she remembered her own good times and bad times, she was rewarded with gifts of clarity, acceptance, forgiveness, and new perspectives on life. As you review your life experiences and share them with others, you reaffirm your own life―a task well worth pursuing.”

―W. Walter Menninger, M.D, psychiatrist of the Menninger Foundation, former dean of the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry and Mental Health Science, former CEO of the Menninger Clinic, former editor of Psychiatry Digest, and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist



“Dr. Manning paves the way for the aspiring writer to get their story on paper. We all have stories we want to tell and preserve.”

―Nolan Brohaugh MSW, social worker, retired



“Dr. Manning’s book is a step-by-step roadmap to guide you through the maze that is writing your perfect memoir or autobiography. And the best part is that rather than reading like another how-to manual, Your Turn is filled with wonderful stories and anecdotes that give you a glimpse into the authors own life. It’s a must read for any aspiring writer.”

―Karen Keilt author of The Parrot’s Perch: A Memoir



“Dr. Manning has given us a step by step recipe on how each person can write his/her story. We all have a story to write, and now you the reader will know how to get started.”

―Tina Siemens, author of Seminole: Some People Never Give Up

Dr. Tyra Manning is a renowned educator who brings an inspirational message of hope to individuals struggling with addiction, mental illness, or grief. She overcame personal struggles with substance abuse and mental illness and went on to become one of America’s top educators. As Superintendent of River Forest District 90 in Illinois, she presided for twelve years over high-performing public-school districts, where her students often reached the highest levels of academic achievement. Her debut book, Where the Water Meets the Sand, was awarded the Independent Book Publisher's (IBPA) 2017 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Best Memoir and the Texas Association of Authors Award for Best Autobiography. Though she travels around the country delivering the messages and lessons in book, Dr. Manning is a born-and-bred Texan currently living in the Texas Hill Country. She blogs twice per week at her website, www.tyramanning.com.