If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit - Softcover

Ueland, Brenda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555974716 ISBN 13: 9781555974718

Publisher: Graywolf Press, 2007

Synopsis

But we must try to find our True Conscience, our True Self, the very Center, for this is the only first-rate choice-making center. Here lies all originality, talent, honor, truthfulness, courage and cheerfulness. Here lies the ability to choose the good and the grand, the true and the beautiful.

In her ninety-three remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn't want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her bestselling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired
thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book "the best book ever written about how to write." Yet Ueland reminds us that "whenever I say ‘writing' in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or make."

About this title

Review:

For most, the hardest part of writing is overcoming the mountain of self-denial that weighs upon the spirit, always threatening to extinguish those first small embers of ambition. Brenda Ueland, a writer and teacher, devotes most of her book--published back in 1938, before everyone and their goldfish got their MFA's in creative writing--to these matters of the writer's heart. Still, the real gift of the book is Ueland herself: She liked to write, she didn't care what anyone thought, and she had a great sense of humor. You're simply happy to hang out with her.

From the Back Cover:

In her 93 remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn't want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her best-selling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book "The best book ever written about how to write". Yet Ueland reminds us that "Whenever I say 'writing' in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or to make". Ueland's writing and her teaching are made compelling by her feisty spirit of independence and joy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Graywolf Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1555974716
• ISBN 13: 9781555974718
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 180