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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
Cameron in Right to Write and Goldberg in books like Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind focus primarily on the practice of writing as everyday spiritual practice (a kind of 'zazen', to borrow the term from Buddhism) and a tool for personal growth. Writing does not have to be about writing for publication, they say, the process is every bit as valid as the product.
Cameron talks about "connecting with the powers of the universe" when we write. And yes, there was a time when my more than cynical self would have laughed at such an idea. But truly that's what it feels like when writing goes well, when we lose self-consciousness and the ideas just ... flow.
Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up, she says. Creativity is a lamp, not a candle. Something wants to write through us as badly as we want to write.
This strikes me as very true. Time after time I see my writing friends come up with perfectly formed, heart-breakingly true pieces, after just a few minutes of frantically-paced "free-writing".
And I loved the chapter about taking your writing outside into your everyday world ... not making it too precious and serious and daunting:
Writing is about making brain children. When it comes to conception, it can but doesn't need to be in the missionary position. ... Don't make it so fancy. Do it on the kitchen table. Let your prose flash like Jessica Lange's white panties in the Postman always rings twice. Do it in the back pew at church. Do it outside next to the lilac bush. Do it in a cafe. On an airplane. Do it, do it, do it.
I'm not a flasher, but always have notebooks with me (different sized notebooks for different sized handbags) and often feel the urge to scribble things down. Cafes are great writing places and I love to people watch and play the sneaky spy. I've also written in long bank queues, at the check-out in Jaya Jusco, while waiting for friends to arrive at the airport, and once in the toilet during a formal function because the conversation on my table just had to be got down to paper as soon as possible!
I like to write on trains where there is a sort of enforced intimacy with strangers, and it's fun to try to get them down to the page without them suspecting what you're doing! Got the tables turned on me once though ... on a train from Plymouth to London, a young man, a student I thought, settled into the seat opposite. I was just wondering whether to take out my notebook and write a quick sketch of him, when he opened his bag, took out a notebook and proceeded to scribble something down in it, glancing sneakily at me from time to time though I pretended not to notice. I like to think that he was writing about me! A kind of writerly synchronicity.
Cameron talks about "connecting with the powers of the universe" when we write. And yes, there was a time when my more than cynical self would have laughed at such an idea. But truly that's what it feels like when writing goes well, when we lose self-consciousness and the ideas just ... flow.
Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up, she says. Creativity is a lamp, not a candle. Something wants to write through us as badly as we want to write.
This strikes me as very true. Time after time I see my writing friends come up with perfectly formed, heart-breakingly true pieces, after just a few minutes of frantically-paced "free-writing".
And I loved the chapter about taking your writing outside into your everyday world ... not making it too precious and serious and daunting:
Writing is about making brain children. When it comes to conception, it can but doesn't need to be in the missionary position. ... Don't make it so fancy. Do it on the kitchen table. Let your prose flash like Jessica Lange's white panties in the Postman always rings twice. Do it in the back pew at church. Do it outside next to the lilac bush. Do it in a cafe. On an airplane. Do it, do it, do it.
I'm not a flasher, but always have notebooks with me (different sized notebooks for different sized handbags) and often feel the urge to scribble things down. Cafes are great writing places and I love to people watch and play the sneaky spy. I've also written in long bank queues, at the check-out in Jaya Jusco, while waiting for friends to arrive at the airport, and once in the toilet during a formal function because the conversation on my table just had to be got down to paper as soon as possible!
I like to write on trains where there is a sort of enforced intimacy with strangers, and it's fun to try to get them down to the page without them suspecting what you're doing! Got the tables turned on me once though ... on a train from Plymouth to London, a young man, a student I thought, settled into the seat opposite. I was just wondering whether to take out my notebook and write a quick sketch of him, when he opened his bag, took out a notebook and proceeded to scribble something down in it, glancing sneakily at me from time to time though I pretended not to notice. I like to think that he was writing about me! A kind of writerly synchronicity.
This book was not revolutionary for me, but I did find some really helpful and encouraging thoughts that definitely apply to where I currently am as a writer. Recommend for anyone who is trying to find the courage to write.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I really adore this book and am going to buy my own copy to return to the writing exercises again and again. Cameron is so gentle and wise in her approach to growing writers in everyone.
I liked this so much more than I thought I would, especially as at first I was pretty allergic to its wishy washy tone and style. But I slowly worked my way through it and at the end I loved it. I like that it’s not elitist, that it’s inclusive but also smart, and it made me feel like writing, which is bloody rare in a writing book.
I really enjoyed this book. A lot of the essays were just what I needed to hear in this writing slump of mine and has re-energized me and has gotten me back on track!
Fabulous! Absolutely outstanding. If you want to be motivated, rejuvenated, re-energized toward writing... look no further than THE RIGHT TO WRITE. Julia Cameron is a creativity genius. She understands the writer's life perhaps better than anyone. I couldn't put this book down. It's going to have a permanent place on my keeper shelf. 'Nuff said. Excellent, excellent book. (A+)
Very few books do I keep after I’ve finished reading them. This one will stay on my shelf because I think I could pick it up any day, open to a random page, and feel inspiration. I might read the whole thing through again some day too.