If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book made me want to stop reading and start writing. I love Ueland’s enthusiasm and her quirky style. Empowering and energizing.
What annoyed me about my Kindle version of the book was that it made no mention of the original publication date–just dated it 2010. Come on now, it came out in 1938 or thereabouts. It seems like that should be on the book somewhere.
Some of my favorite quotes.
“…creative work’ …. is like a faucet: nothing comes unless you turn it on and the more you turn it on, the more comes” (Kindle Location 357).
“…what we write today slipped into our souls some other day when we were alone and doing nothing …. what you write today is the result of some span of idling yesterday, some fairly long period of protection from talking and busyness” KL 507 & 519.
“Yes, the more you wish to describe a Universal the more minutely and truthfully you must describe a Particular” KL 1518.
“If you write a bad story, the way to make it better is to write three more. Then look at the first one. You will have grown in understanding, in honesty. You will know what to do to it. And to yourself” KL 2005.
“The secret of being interesting is to move along as fast as the mind of the reader (or listener) can take it in. Both must march along in the same tempo. That is why it is good to read your writing aloud to yourself” KL 2016.
Violet Nesdoly 