Writing Past Dark : Envy, Fear, Distraction and Other Dilemmas in the Writer's Life

Rating:
Summary: Enlightened Writing no matter what the visibility.....
Review: I was attracted to this book because of its unique title, "Writing Past Dark" and then dove into it because it seemed to approach the average writer's challenges from a unique perspective... not lamenting block, discouragement, envy... instead just laying it out there so that you will not feel so alone.

This book is like a vaccination against quitting.....

There were several segments of the book which worked especially well. In the section on "Anorexia of language, why we can't write" which personifies silence in this way. "I have been staring into silence's blank face all month and I want to rattle it, to shake it, to force it to confess what's at its obsessive, fanatical core."

There is also a lot of ripeness in the chapter on Envy: the Writer's vocational hazard. I wanted to applaude as I read, "The antidote to envy is one's own work. Always doing ones own work. Not thinking about it, not the assessing of it. But the doing of it. The answers you want can only come from the work itself. It drives the spooks away.

Excellent lessons beautifully and satisfyingly crafted.

Rating:
Summary: Be Courageous and Keep Writing!
Review: That's the advice that Friedman gives in her introduction:
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing...believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties." Friedman presents many of those difficulties in her own life in a very honest and revealing way, starting with "Envy, the Writer's Disease." The only cure for envy? "Returning to my work," the author says. Friedman covers many other problems in writing, among them: Distraction, writing about those still living, writing schools, getting the meaning into your stories, writer's block, and what happens when you finally are published. (You mean life doesn't instantly become a bed of roses? Uh...no...)

'Writing Past Dark' is an honest, moving, and sometimes funny look at the life of a writer. Writers at every level will be able to identify with many if not all of the essays here, which make for excellent reading. If you are a beginning writer, this is a great book for giving you a glimpse of what may be in store for you. For seasoned veterans, the book will be a work you can identify and sympathize with.

Rating:
Summary: such a generous book!
Review: What an act of generosity it was for Bonnie Friedman to write this book! There was no earthly reason for her to share her thoughts on envy and writer's block, other than her own desire to pool her insight with other human beings who suffer the same perils and joys. A cause for celebration!