On Writer's Block

Rating:
Summary: "On Writer's Block"
Review: After publishing my first book, I thought the next one would be easier. That was definitely not the case but after reading "On Writer's Block," I am slowly making my way back to the writing table. This book helped take a whole new look at how I approach writing. I would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to be a part of any creative process. Thank you Victoria Nelson for writing this book. It is wonderfully inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: "On Writer's Block"
Review: After publishing my first book, I thought the next one would be easier. That was definitely not the case but after reading "On Writer's Block," I am slowly making my way back to the writing table. This book helped take a whole new look at how I approach writing. I would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to be a part of any creative process. Thank you Victoria Nelson for writing this book. It is wonderfully inspiring.

Rating:
Summary: A book for EVERYONE, an aspiring writer or layman
Review: I bought this book literally by mistake. It's amazing how straight out of the blue just the right stuff falls into your lap--right when you need it, without your doing a thing to get it.

What a wonderful book that is! Now, I may be a reader, but by no means a writer, not even an aspiring one--I simply don't care to write anything. This book, however, while being ostensibly about psychology of writing, is actually about psychology of ANY, even borderline creative, activity. I, for example, would strongly recommend this book to every software or graphics designer, or someone banging his head against the wall about some business ideas--absolutely anyone who finds himself baffled by inscrutable, inexplicable mental stoppages while engaged in any kind of creative activity will benefit from this book's advice. Especially if that person is apt to try to disentagle himself by the sheer force of his will power. (And even more so if that person has been doing it for years with about 100% statistical failure rate ;-) So, if you find yourself in a similar predicament, read this book before you head to a shrink's office or hang yourself <g>. It's an easy read too, btw.

Another similarly (though not as pointedly) helpful book is "Zen of Writing" by Ray Bradbury.

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Summary: Blocked or Not, Encouragement and Clear Advice
Review: The title really doesn't do the scope of this book justice. I picked up this book because I was having some problems with a novel in progress. Then I read it and just sighed....clear insight into the writing process, the good, and useless, habits we form and their impact on our productivity. The book addresses a wide spectrum, such as: "Beginner's Block", Procrastination, Perfectionism, Obsessive Rewriting, and Success. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned professional, this book should be part of your toolbox. It will get you writing....happily.

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Summary: The answer to your writer's block problem
Review: Victoria Nelson cuts through the crap. I have a friend who is a young poet. He complained to me once that he was having trouble writing because he finds himself to complex. I asked him to produce an essay about Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the concept of puer aeternis. He came back the following week and told me he couldn't find anything to help him write the essay (excuse). I gave him a copy of the DSM-IIIR and a copy of On Writer's Block. The next week he produced the essay. Enough said?

Rating:
Summary: Reading This Review? Read This Book.
Review: When I read in the preface of "On Writer's Block" that it was based on the tenets of humanistic psychology so popular in the mid-80's, I groaned. Not another book telling me to get in touch with my inner child! Well, it may be a case of "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear," but this book helped bring me out of a seven-year struggle with wanting desperately to write, but not being able to.

The key is not to take the "inner child" notion too literally, but to look on it as a metaphor that can help bridge the gap between the subconscious (the realm of myth and dreams) and the conscious (the rational world, whose demands and vagaries we seek to illuminate). If you are constantly barking orders at your inner self, as I have for years, treating it as a recalcitrant subordinate who is going to be in big trouble if he doesn't get with the program, then there's no wonder the poor kid cringes in the corner and refuses to come out. Victoria Nelson urges us to think about creativity as a form of play, a release of emotions, truths, and insights that is unmediated by analysis or judgment.

I've run across the notion of creativity as play before, in Julia Cameron's "Artist Way" and "Vein of Gold," but have successfully resisted the beneficial effects of Cameron's rituals for years. (Nevertheless I recommend these books very highly--they may have helped set the stage for my breakthrough here.) Nelson's approach is different. Each short chapter is like the soft voice of an old friend, cutting right to the heart of things and giving you the hard truths you need to hear. If any of the chapter titles in this book ring the slightest bell for you--if, in fact, you are interested enough in this topic to be reading this review--then you owe it to yourself to take a look at this book.

Rating:
Summary: Reading This Review? Read This Book.
Review: When I read in the preface of "On Writer's Block" that it was based on the tenets of humanistic psychology so popular in the mid-80's, I groaned. Not another book telling me to get in touch with my inner child! Well, it may be a case of "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear," but this book helped bring me out of a seven-year struggle with wanting desperately to write, but not being able to.

The key is not to take the "inner child" notion too literally, but to look on it as a metaphor that can help bridge the gap between the subconscious (the realm of myth and dreams) and the conscious (the rational world, whose demands and vagaries we seek to illuminate). If you are constantly barking orders at your inner self, as I have for years, treating it as a recalcitrant subordinate who is going to be in big trouble if he doesn't get with the program, then there's no wonder the poor kid cringes in the corner and refuses to come out. Victoria Nelson urges us to think about creativity as a form of play, a release of emotions, truths, and insights that is unmediated by analysis or judgment.

I've run across the notion of creativity as play before, in Julia Cameron's "Artist Way" and "Vein of Gold," but have successfully resisted the beneficial effects of Cameron's rituals for years. (Nevertheless I recommend these books very highly--they may have helped set the stage for my breakthrough here.) Nelson's approach is different. Each short chapter is like the soft voice of an old friend, cutting right to the heart of things and giving you the hard truths you need to hear. If any of the chapter titles in this book ring the slightest bell for you--if, in fact, you are interested enough in this topic to be reading this review--then you owe it to yourself to take a look at this book.