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Summary: It's Like CPR for your soul
Review: If i had millions of dollars i would buy this book and letters from a skeptic (boyd&boyd) and hand them out to everyone because it would make the world so much better. Next to the Bible it is the most truth packed ispiring life giving book i have ever read. every person should be required to read it at least once in school each year-espesaly teachers. ITs so good Its so good its so good. brenda adress's something that our school system and parents have long not understood. all dead and dry black & white people need this book it will give them color. this book is not just for writers it is for everyone. she taught me that every profession-doctors, lawers, bankers, teachers, housewives-can have love and energy poured into them. i have spent nearly $300 buying this book. i always read it once and then give it away because by the end i feel genourous like brenda. OOOOHHHHHHH it's so good!!!!!!!
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Summary: A populist philosophy of writing.
Review: If You Want to Write is about the author's philosophy of writing in particular and life in general. This vague summary may make it sound difficult or boring, but in fact it is written in a friendly, energetic style. If you want to write--if you want to create, period--this book will be worth your time.
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Summary: Number One
Review: In my advanced writers workshop, I recommend Brenda Ueland's book above all others.J R Lankford
Author, The Jesus Thief
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Summary: A fantastic inspiration for anybody doing creative work!
Review: Inspired by a raving review by Guy Kawasaki in MacUser (April 1992), I decided to give it a try. Kawasaky reccomended it for anybody wanting to program computer software. He was RIGHT! As a musician, a composer, a teacher and a programmer I can't stop telling others how great this book is. YOU GOT TO READ IT! If you don't like I will buy it back from you. I have already given 10 copies away to my friends.
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Summary: I guess I am missing the inspiration
Review: It appears I have missed the boat on this book. I struggled with to find all the wisdom everyone was clamoring about. After a week I was still only on page 28. Sorry, but the book obviously did not "speak" to me. I am glad others found some gems.
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Summary: Finding Imagination and Creativity
Review: Many of the author's references and examples are from her writing classes and her association with other writers, so I guess you can call it a writing book. But, its subtitle is more succint, "A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit." The book answers the question "Why should we all use our creative power and write or paint or play music, or whatever it tells us to do?" She uses examples from Blake, Chekhov, Tolstoi, Sandburg and other creative writers, and sprinkles in Mozart, Van Gogh, Monet and God. We read much about imagination and creativity, and how our internal and external critics suppress us. She explores how to bring what is inside us all to the surface and to be thankful for it. If your are exploring your imagination and creativity, be it through writing, drawing, composing, acting, programming, entreprenuering or just living life, read this book, savor it and then read it again. You'll like it.
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Summary: Read it 'til you can't anymore
Review: Read this book. Read it all the way through. You might say to yourself "this is juvenile. This is naïve." But read it. Press on. Read it thoroughly. Set your mind on "accept" and let the book be right all the time. Then, read it again. Keep reading it when you are not writing. Randomly pick a page and start. Read it out of order. Perhaps you'll find the Blake, or the Van Gogh; one of her students, or one of her tirades against the niggardly busy-busy world. Read it while watching T.V.(but not while driving a car!) Soon, you just can't read it anymore. Because it's tedious? Because you've memorized it? Because its pages are stained with finger oil and falling apart? Because you will be too damn busy furiously writing. And rewriting, then writing again. You will fear--with a creaky feeling in your gut--that a short break may jettison the idea you're blessed with off into the unexpressed void, then banish the next one, and the next one, like a home-run slugger on a roll at batting practice, all which demand permanence--because they all got that something. And you don't dare stop typing (at 75 W.P.M, with pauses of concentrated, exacting thought between) because you must, you absolutely soulfully must, capture this thought perfectly, then quickly move on to the next antsy thought tapping its toe impatiently behind, before it gets insulted and walks out to planet nowhere in a huff. So read it. And I hope you read it so much that you just don't have the time to read it anymore, and it is gathering dust while your page is gathering words.
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Summary: A breakthrough
Review: Reading this book will lead you to different ways of thinking about your writing and your life. The heart behind the words shines through and you feel more like you're having a conversation with a trusted friend than reading a book. "Art is infection," Brenda Ueland titles one chapter and this book is definately art by that definition. She infects you, across the boundry of time as only printed words can, with her enthusiasm for writing and her gusto for life. Throughout, she builds up your confidence and ignites your passion while also telling you that not everything she suggests may work for you. Try it, see if you like it, and if it doesn't help your writing, move on. There are no "oughts," there is only your authentic voice. Also, she touches on the fact that she wrote this book about writing because that is her form of art. Everyone has the artistic spark within them and you can as easily show your particular passion through sewing, or house building or ditch digging as through writing. While a handbook for better writing this is also a guidebook for a happier life.
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Summary: A Superior book
Review: The best book about writing that I've ever read. Brenda Ueland teaches you that all you need to write you already have, just get it down on paper and don't uselessly compare yourself to others. She believes everyone has the right to expression and you will too if you don't already. A great book for any creative artist.
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Summary: Tough going, but does make a good point.
Review: The book seems quite archaic in viewpoint now, and could be updated for modern readers. Still Ueland makes a great point, that you need to wrtie with soul and passion from your heart, not strive for some lofty, arty goal. She points out what is wrong with much of popular culture today, it seems more an imitation of greatness than greatness. In a sense, you can't fake soul and heart. If it doesn't come from you, the reader will know. Still, the book takes forever to make its points and Ueland's constant "I'll try and tell you about it later" proclamations throughout the book make you wonder if this wasn't a first draft. Like most writing books, this one is a wee bit overrated. Wanna write, do it.
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