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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
An extremely warm and encouraging book for anyone who wants to write but is afraid not being able to write well. It's a good book (I am trying hard to rid of my cynicism), except that some analogs are out-of-date.
This is what I get from Brenda Ueland's essays:
-- Trust yourself. Believe in you. Believe that you have an unique story (or stories) to tell.
-- Write in a "dreamy" way, which, according my understanding, is actually a highly concentrated mental state, a mental flow.
-- Tell the story first, worry about structures and words later
-- Ignore criticism, including and especially self-criticism.
-- Do keep writing
This is what I get from Brenda Ueland's essays:
-- Trust yourself. Believe in you. Believe that you have an unique story (or stories) to tell.
-- Write in a "dreamy" way, which, according my understanding, is actually a highly concentrated mental state, a mental flow.
-- Tell the story first, worry about structures and words later
-- Ignore criticism, including and especially self-criticism.
-- Do keep writing
nothing turns me off a book faster then a book starts to describe being creative as som kind of gods gift to be honest while the bearded sky man was mentioned in this book I fpound it close to perfect. im not sure I entirely agree to what she conciders good writing but the book is inspirational. it has gpttem me writing again as well as reinvigorated a lot of the other peices of art that I do and had become disenfranchised with.
get the book if you suspect. you have an ounce of tallent. and definitly get it if you think you dont. I beleave anyone can learn to do anything at any stage in their life. as long as they recognise how they learn and apply that. then they just have to express their tallent in a way that captures who nthey are. this book is about expressing yourself and your tallent in a way thats uniquely you.
ill be keeping this book and reading it the next time I get down.
get the book if you suspect. you have an ounce of tallent. and definitly get it if you think you dont. I beleave anyone can learn to do anything at any stage in their life. as long as they recognise how they learn and apply that. then they just have to express their tallent in a way that captures who nthey are. this book is about expressing yourself and your tallent in a way thats uniquely you.
ill be keeping this book and reading it the next time I get down.
I probably would have liked it better if I read it on my own time.
I really liked a lot of things about this. There was definitely some useful and inspiring information. The main thing that really bothered me about this was how much the author said things like "later I will show you," variations of which were used in great abundance. I also wasn't a huge fan of the writing style.
And make sure you don't go into this thinking it's a book about writing. I personally didn't, but I see in other reviews that people did. It's more a book about how to embrace creativity and use that to fuel your own art.
And make sure you don't go into this thinking it's a book about writing. I personally didn't, but I see in other reviews that people did. It's more a book about how to embrace creativity and use that to fuel your own art.
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Beautiful beautiful book. I page marked practically every single page
Some of the things this author said about writing really resonated with me, but other things were a bit too "out there", flaky, and/or liberal weird. Most of what she said was really good though, and inspired me to write more freely!
In this book, the author encourages people to write from their true selves, to write with freedom from fear of criticism, to write about things they care about. Her words are at once deep and grand, but also simple and accessible. Her writing feels like a call to arms to a battalion of writers, and then she gives them training in how to be wild and watchful before throwing them into the war of words. Her manner of writing itself is actually very sympathetic and kind, but also includes the sort of tough love and bare truthfulness that makes you want to take action.
She doesn't really say much about the "rules" of writing or what makes good writing, other than to say that you must not listen to the critics, but be true to your own vision. The whole book is about what it feels like to write, or at least what it SHOULD feel like... How ideas come, what to do with those ideas, and what to do if no ideas come at all.
It's really beautiful and engaging writing that draws you in and makes you think deeply about your connection to writing as an art form. Why do we write? What makes us do it? Are we doing it for the right reasons and in the right spiritual way? Are we trying too hard, or not hard enough?
It's good stuff, and has some excellent points! But there are also some weird answers that I didn't agree with, or just some random tangents that went off into left field.
In this book, the author encourages people to write from their true selves, to write with freedom from fear of criticism, to write about things they care about. Her words are at once deep and grand, but also simple and accessible. Her writing feels like a call to arms to a battalion of writers, and then she gives them training in how to be wild and watchful before throwing them into the war of words. Her manner of writing itself is actually very sympathetic and kind, but also includes the sort of tough love and bare truthfulness that makes you want to take action.
She doesn't really say much about the "rules" of writing or what makes good writing, other than to say that you must not listen to the critics, but be true to your own vision. The whole book is about what it feels like to write, or at least what it SHOULD feel like... How ideas come, what to do with those ideas, and what to do if no ideas come at all.
It's really beautiful and engaging writing that draws you in and makes you think deeply about your connection to writing as an art form. Why do we write? What makes us do it? Are we doing it for the right reasons and in the right spiritual way? Are we trying too hard, or not hard enough?
It's good stuff, and has some excellent points! But there are also some weird answers that I didn't agree with, or just some random tangents that went off into left field.
Not really a technique book, this is more about inspiration and motivation. Consider it the "you are special, and you have something to say" pep talk that writers and other artists need to hear from time-to-time. (Also, I'd recommend the audio version with Pat Carroll reading. It's pretty compelling.)
Mixed feelings. The author made some good points: write truthfully and simply; write often without editing yourself to sound impressive; if you are afraid to take the next step, set out to write something "bad" to take the pressure off. However, I found the book to be very repetitive, and the constant inclusion of long portions of her students' writing was tiresome. Read the first two chapters and the last chapter to gain the best nuggets of wisdom and skip the others unless you really enjoy the author's writing. In general, her style was not my cup of tea, but I appreciate some of the points she brought up.