A Beginning Writer's Journal: 1970-1972 reveals what Joseph Sutton went through to finish the first writing project of his life, a novel about his experimental teaching experience at an inner-city high school in Los Angeles. Although Sutton struggled with bouts of writer's block and fluctuations of mood, this book shows how he conquered those obstacles. Never has there been a more honest, intimate and telling portrait of what a writer was thinking, feeling and doing at the onset of his writing career.