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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
I read this ages ago ~ a brilliant little book about the creative process. The word "write" in the title can easily be replaced with paint, sing, dance, sew, sculpt, rap, etc., etc. At one point I bought a whole box full of seconds from the publisher (the great Greywolf Press of Minnesota) and gave them out to everyone I loved--note: the 1987 edition, with the fabulous-hideous photo of the ancient Brenda Ueland on the opening pages, not the one with the starfish cover (a design choice I question to this day). Anyway, I still love this book for Ueland's plain-spoken Minnesota advice and stories. It makes me feel like I'm listening to a loving, encouraging, spinster-ancestor.
I loved every word and found it very inspirational. My favorite section was when she talked about "Why Renaissance Noblemen Wrote Sonnets." Hint: It wasn't to see them published. I've been in a funk since my last book was published and this really lifted my spirits.
Loved this book. Very inspiring. I highly recommend it!
Of the writing and creativity books I've read so far, this one has resonated with me the most. I read this book in the evenings and reading it made me want to speed through the rest of the night to get to tomorrow so that I could start writing again. Brenda Ueland encourages writing your truth as you experience it and gives examples of when people have done this vs. when they have tried too hard to write in a way they think is "good" writing. You can always tell when it's strained. One example that I absolutely appreciated was of Sarah McShane. I loved her writing because it was so pure and honest and beautiful, yet so simple. I am so grateful that I read this book. I feel encouraged and supported in forging ahead and writing my truths.
"Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself. But it must be from his true self and not from the self he thinks he should be." pg. 4
"The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny; whose attitude is: 'Tell me more. Tell me all you can. I want to understand more about everything you feel and know and all the changes inside and out of you Let more come out.'" pg. 8
"But if we are women we think it is more important to wipe noses and carry doilies than to write or to play the piano. And men spend their lives adding and subtracting and dictating letters when they secretly long to write sonnets and play the violin and burst into tears at the sunset." pg. 11
"But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it." pg. 19
"But at last I understood from William Blake and Van Gogh and other great men, and from myself--from the truth that is in me (and which I have at last learned to declare and stand up for, as I am trying to persuade you to stand up for your inner truth)--at last I understood that writing was this: an impulse to share with other people a feeling or truth that I myself had. Not to preach to them, but to give it to them if they cared to hear it." pg. 24
"Yes, it has made me like working to see that writing is not a performance but a generosity." pg. 25
"Willing is doing something you know already, something you have been told by somebody else; there is no new imaginative understanding in it. And presently your soul gets frightfully sterile and dry because you are so quick, snappy and efficient about doing one thing after another that you have not time for your own ideas to come in and develop and gently shine." pg. 29
"In other words, it is when you are really living in the present--working, thinking, lost, absorbed in something you care about very much, that you are living spiritually." pg. 59
"Unfathomable, if only you do not forget that your true inner self is ever-changing, ever-creating new things from itself. But if you write one good and successful thing and then try to make all the others just as good, i.e., just like it, then the unfathomable fountain of talent will be dried up." pg. 107 (footnote #3)
"Gradually by writing you will learn more and more to be free, to say all you tink; and at the same time you will learn never to lie to yourself, never to pretend and attitudinize. But only by writing and by long, patient, serious work will you find your true self." pg. 111
"...the true self is always in motion like music, a river of life, changing, moving, failing, suffering, learning, shining. That is why you must freely and recklessly make new mistakes--in writing or in life--and do not fret about them but pass on and write more. Active evil is so much better than passive good, which is just docility, feebleness, timidity." pg. 112
"When you have written a story and it has come back a few times and you sit there trying to write it over again and make it more impressive, do not try to think of better words, more gripping words. Try to see the people better. It is not yet deeply enough imagined. See them--just what they did and how they looked and felt. Then write it. If you can at last see it clearly the writing is easy." pg. 136
"Say it. If it is true to you, it is true. Another truth may take its place later. What comes truly from me is true, whether anybody believes it or not. It is my truth." pg. 175
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
"Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself. But it must be from his true self and not from the self he thinks he should be." pg. 4
"The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny; whose attitude is: 'Tell me more. Tell me all you can. I want to understand more about everything you feel and know and all the changes inside and out of you Let more come out.'" pg. 8
"But if we are women we think it is more important to wipe noses and carry doilies than to write or to play the piano. And men spend their lives adding and subtracting and dictating letters when they secretly long to write sonnets and play the violin and burst into tears at the sunset." pg. 11
"But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it." pg. 19
"But at last I understood from William Blake and Van Gogh and other great men, and from myself--from the truth that is in me (and which I have at last learned to declare and stand up for, as I am trying to persuade you to stand up for your inner truth)--at last I understood that writing was this: an impulse to share with other people a feeling or truth that I myself had. Not to preach to them, but to give it to them if they cared to hear it." pg. 24
"Yes, it has made me like working to see that writing is not a performance but a generosity." pg. 25
"Willing is doing something you know already, something you have been told by somebody else; there is no new imaginative understanding in it. And presently your soul gets frightfully sterile and dry because you are so quick, snappy and efficient about doing one thing after another that you have not time for your own ideas to come in and develop and gently shine." pg. 29
"In other words, it is when you are really living in the present--working, thinking, lost, absorbed in something you care about very much, that you are living spiritually." pg. 59
"Unfathomable, if only you do not forget that your true inner self is ever-changing, ever-creating new things from itself. But if you write one good and successful thing and then try to make all the others just as good, i.e., just like it, then the unfathomable fountain of talent will be dried up." pg. 107 (footnote #3)
"Gradually by writing you will learn more and more to be free, to say all you tink; and at the same time you will learn never to lie to yourself, never to pretend and attitudinize. But only by writing and by long, patient, serious work will you find your true self." pg. 111
"...the true self is always in motion like music, a river of life, changing, moving, failing, suffering, learning, shining. That is why you must freely and recklessly make new mistakes--in writing or in life--and do not fret about them but pass on and write more. Active evil is so much better than passive good, which is just docility, feebleness, timidity." pg. 112
"When you have written a story and it has come back a few times and you sit there trying to write it over again and make it more impressive, do not try to think of better words, more gripping words. Try to see the people better. It is not yet deeply enough imagined. See them--just what they did and how they looked and felt. Then write it. If you can at last see it clearly the writing is easy." pg. 136
"Say it. If it is true to you, it is true. Another truth may take its place later. What comes truly from me is true, whether anybody believes it or not. It is my truth." pg. 175
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
This book was a gift from a college professor in 2001, the year I graduated. It's been on my to-read list a while, clearly. Hence its inclusion in my 2014 TBR Pile Challenge.
My professor warned me, as she handed it over, that it was far less useful for practical writing advice and more for inspiration. In that, she was absolutely correct. While there is some advice for how to get started and find one's voice as a writer, I found some of its advice counter intuitive, and sometimes contradictory of my process. The book is If You Want to Write, not If You Want to Be Published.
Brenda Ueland recommends an approach that ignores such words as "craft," "polish," and "honing." Her background is that of a teacher of nonwriters. She's drawn out the inner writer in her students, and the book's purpose is to do the same for its readers. She's interested in helping people find their voices as writers and finding what inspires them.
There are sections where she compares or contrasts pieces of writing, meant to illustrate her points about a looser, less critical approach to writing. At times, her point is well-made, when her students initially turn in stilted prose of the kind they feel they're supposed to write, and eventually write pieces that are flowing and natural. Other times, though, the "better" passages are purple, or just plain rambling. I understand at the time Ueland was writing, the longer, more descriptive passages were better valued, so some of my disconnect is a product of the shift in literary trends.
One of the major points in this book's favor is that it advocates pantstering, or discovery writing. It specifically recommends against outlining or planning out where the story will go. Ueland says, instead, to see where the story takes you. That's an approach I can get behind.
I wish I'd come across this book before I graduated high school. A lot of its lessons would've helped me in my early writing development. In this stage of my writing, though, it reads like a giant step backward. It tells me nothing about how to improve as a writer or how to edit what I've already written.
This book will not help you if you've already written a novel, or if you're ready to edit your pieces. Its main utility is giving a budding writer the confidence to find one's own voice. I'd recommend it to people considered NaNoWriMo; its lessons will help unclog you from the expectations holding back your word count.
My professor warned me, as she handed it over, that it was far less useful for practical writing advice and more for inspiration. In that, she was absolutely correct. While there is some advice for how to get started and find one's voice as a writer, I found some of its advice counter intuitive, and sometimes contradictory of my process. The book is If You Want to Write, not If You Want to Be Published.
Brenda Ueland recommends an approach that ignores such words as "craft," "polish," and "honing." Her background is that of a teacher of nonwriters. She's drawn out the inner writer in her students, and the book's purpose is to do the same for its readers. She's interested in helping people find their voices as writers and finding what inspires them.
There are sections where she compares or contrasts pieces of writing, meant to illustrate her points about a looser, less critical approach to writing. At times, her point is well-made, when her students initially turn in stilted prose of the kind they feel they're supposed to write, and eventually write pieces that are flowing and natural. Other times, though, the "better" passages are purple, or just plain rambling. I understand at the time Ueland was writing, the longer, more descriptive passages were better valued, so some of my disconnect is a product of the shift in literary trends.
One of the major points in this book's favor is that it advocates pantstering, or discovery writing. It specifically recommends against outlining or planning out where the story will go. Ueland says, instead, to see where the story takes you. That's an approach I can get behind.
I wish I'd come across this book before I graduated high school. A lot of its lessons would've helped me in my early writing development. In this stage of my writing, though, it reads like a giant step backward. It tells me nothing about how to improve as a writer or how to edit what I've already written.
This book will not help you if you've already written a novel, or if you're ready to edit your pieces. Its main utility is giving a budding writer the confidence to find one's own voice. I'd recommend it to people considered NaNoWriMo; its lessons will help unclog you from the expectations holding back your word count.
Brenda Ueland's "If You Want to Write" is a book written for those who would love to write, but for one reason or another don't. Or at least try, but don't do well.
This was a lovely read - Ueland has a wonderful grasp of the English language. Unfortunately though, there is very little solid advice in here. There is really only one piece of advice she gives over and over again; that is, just write whatever feels natural, truthful and don't over-think it.
Padding the rest out are other bits and pieces of advice that she doesn't give with much conviction. Often the advice is followed with "or don't do this if you don't want to". The book is filled with nice anecdotes from artists and examples of her own student's writing.
Three stars because it is a lovely read, but has no real practical application.
This was a lovely read - Ueland has a wonderful grasp of the English language. Unfortunately though, there is very little solid advice in here. There is really only one piece of advice she gives over and over again; that is, just write whatever feels natural, truthful and don't over-think it.
Padding the rest out are other bits and pieces of advice that she doesn't give with much conviction. Often the advice is followed with "or don't do this if you don't want to". The book is filled with nice anecdotes from artists and examples of her own student's writing.
Three stars because it is a lovely read, but has no real practical application.
This book is fantastic. I love her insights, her spirit, her suggestions, her observations. Inspiring and funny and great.
Unlike any other book on writing I've ever read—Ueland is no-nonsense and to the point with her observations, and also unlike many other books on writing, strives to remove her own ego as much as possible.
This is a celebration of possibilities. If you are in any way creatively-minded, I urge you to seek this out.
And this is all that I have to say.
This is a celebration of possibilities. If you are in any way creatively-minded, I urge you to seek this out.
And this is all that I have to say.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced