Better late than never
I just finished a wonderful, inspiring book I should have read years ago. I'd heard of it and read passages from it, but never bought it and read it cover to cover. Now all I can ask is, what took me so long?
It's called "If You Want to Write," by Brenda Ueland, originally published in 1938. She was a local author who taught people from all walks of life, not only university students. In fact, she uses writing samples from her students to back up her basic premise that "everyone is talented, original and has something important to say." Her style is direct, refreshing and practical -- and she emphasizes that her points apply not just to writing, but to any creative endeavor: painting, sculpting, weaving, cooking... any craft undertaken out of love.
Many of her points are not new to me, but for some reason, her articulation of these points hits me harder than anything I've read before. For example, pretty much all writers have heard the instruction to "write what you know." So we examine ourselves for years and think we don't really know anything and allow self-doubt to silence us. Ueland, on the other hand, says not to write what you know but to write what you love, what you are willing to bear witness to. I know others like Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron have dispensed much the same advice, but somehow it gets lost in step-by-step directives (especially with Cameron). Ueland says to simply tell the truth, boldly and freely, about whatever it is you're observing, and it cannot help but come alive for your reader. It's when writers try to be "writerly" (her word...haven't checked that in the dictionary yet) that we stumble and become false and dead.
What really sold me on this book was a quick glance through the table of contents. A chapter titled, "Why Women who do too much housework should neglect it for their writing" made the decision for me. Imagine in 1938 exhorting women to neglect their homes and focus on their creative lives! She was a feminist long before there was any movement to back her up. Listen: "They [women who devote themselves to family alone] sense that if you are always doing something for others, like a servant or a nurse, and never anything for yourself, you cannot do others any good. You make them physically comfortable. But you cannot affect them spiritually in any way at all. For to teach, encourage, cheer up, console, amuse, stimulate or advise a husband or children or friends, you have to be something yourself. And how to be something yourself? Only by working hard and with gumption at something you love and care for and think is important."
She foreshadowed Betty Friedan's "problem that has no name" by a generation. Too few people have tapped-in to this remarkable wisdom.
The woman was amazing. She grew up here, spent many years in New York socializing with people like Eugene O'Neill, then returned to Minnesota to teach, edit and write and stayed very active, setting international swimming records when she was over 80. She was knighted by the King of Norway and lived till she was 93 (in 1985).
If she is an example of "the writing life," I want it. I want the confidence to not care what anyone else thinks, I want the independence to spend my time and energy as I see fit, I want the solitude to reflect and articulate my thoughts. I want the wisdom to sort through my experiences and determine what it is I love enough to bear witness to, unflinchingly and faithfully, so I can spark something in a reader somewhere, that will leave a mark, make a change.
It's called "If You Want to Write," by Brenda Ueland, originally published in 1938. She was a local author who taught people from all walks of life, not only university students. In fact, she uses writing samples from her students to back up her basic premise that "everyone is talented, original and has something important to say." Her style is direct, refreshing and practical -- and she emphasizes that her points apply not just to writing, but to any creative endeavor: painting, sculpting, weaving, cooking... any craft undertaken out of love.
Many of her points are not new to me, but for some reason, her articulation of these points hits me harder than anything I've read before. For example, pretty much all writers have heard the instruction to "write what you know." So we examine ourselves for years and think we don't really know anything and allow self-doubt to silence us. Ueland, on the other hand, says not to write what you know but to write what you love, what you are willing to bear witness to. I know others like Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron have dispensed much the same advice, but somehow it gets lost in step-by-step directives (especially with Cameron). Ueland says to simply tell the truth, boldly and freely, about whatever it is you're observing, and it cannot help but come alive for your reader. It's when writers try to be "writerly" (her word...haven't checked that in the dictionary yet) that we stumble and become false and dead.
What really sold me on this book was a quick glance through the table of contents. A chapter titled, "Why Women who do too much housework should neglect it for their writing" made the decision for me. Imagine in 1938 exhorting women to neglect their homes and focus on their creative lives! She was a feminist long before there was any movement to back her up. Listen: "They [women who devote themselves to family alone] sense that if you are always doing something for others, like a servant or a nurse, and never anything for yourself, you cannot do others any good. You make them physically comfortable. But you cannot affect them spiritually in any way at all. For to teach, encourage, cheer up, console, amuse, stimulate or advise a husband or children or friends, you have to be something yourself. And how to be something yourself? Only by working hard and with gumption at something you love and care for and think is important."
She foreshadowed Betty Friedan's "problem that has no name" by a generation. Too few people have tapped-in to this remarkable wisdom.
The woman was amazing. She grew up here, spent many years in New York socializing with people like Eugene O'Neill, then returned to Minnesota to teach, edit and write and stayed very active, setting international swimming records when she was over 80. She was knighted by the King of Norway and lived till she was 93 (in 1985).
If she is an example of "the writing life," I want it. I want the confidence to not care what anyone else thinks, I want the independence to spend my time and energy as I see fit, I want the solitude to reflect and articulate my thoughts. I want the wisdom to sort through my experiences and determine what it is I love enough to bear witness to, unflinchingly and faithfully, so I can spark something in a reader somewhere, that will leave a mark, make a change.
posted by Mary at 6:32 PM
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