rosepetals1984 's review for:

The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation Into the Writing Life by Julia Cameron

4.0

---

Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write" is more of a writing philosophy work rather than a "how to" book. I actually really liked reading her anecdotes on the writing life and what her experience and advice entailed. I liked her approaches to several different topics, including procrastination, writer's block, the drive to write, among others. And one of the things I really appreciated in this novel is that she completely knocks down the myth/fabrication of what some term as "real" writers versus not. She simply states, somewhat paraphrased: if you write, you are a writer - we are all, in essence, writers of different walks, it's what we choose to do with it and keeping it in practice. She breaks down a lot of mental barriers that writers might have in the process, and she does so with a reassuring, calm voice that carries itself through each topic and page.

I liked thee exercises at the end of each chapter that puts into practice some of the ideas she expounds upon, but really what I got most out of this book were her respective ideas to the writing life, building confidence as a writer, and just how to keep going with ones passion for it. It was a good work, I liked it quite a bit. If I could say one constructively critical thing on it, however, there are places in this where it does tend to meander a little, but I didn't find that to be a deterrent of what I was able to get from this book, and I would certainly return to it again.

Overall score: 4/5