Tuesday, April 24, 2012

U- Brenda Ueland

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit U- Brenda Ueland. A few years ago a coworker gave me a book, If You Want to Write. To be honest, at the time I wasn't sure I wanted another book about writing but I took it anyway.  I read it and was really surprised. This book has wonderful advice about writing. It encourages writers to write, to get past ego and self consciousness and the ideas of success and just write. This book was written in the 1930's but a lot of the advice still holds true today and it is interesting to see that some of the same things that we writers struggle with today (rejection slips, money, housework) are things that writers have always struggled with.

What is your favorite book about writing?

9 comments:

Dana said...

Sounds interesting! Thanks for the recommendation.

Jennifer Hoffine said...

I hadn't hear of this one. It does sound interesting.

My favorite about writing in general is still On Writing, by Stephen King. Though Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott is a close second.

Stephanie said...

I think I'll check that one out. Timeless advice can be really good.

On Writing by Stephen King is my favorite as well. Oddly enough, I don't care for his fiction, but in nonfiction he makes his point very well.

Alison Miller said...

Sounds awesome. I'll have to look into this one. :)

Mary Aalgaard said...

That does sound like a good one. I enjoyed Stephen King's On Writing. Same reaction as Stephanie. I also like memoirs and writer's success stories, like in Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul.

Jay Noel said...

I did really like King's On Writing too.

But I'll go with Larry Brooks, Story Engineering. It's a must have.

Marquita Hockaday said...

This sounds like an awesome writing book. I might have to pick it up! One I enjoy is Writing and Selling the YA Novel by K.L. Going.

Ciara Ballintyne said...

Is it weird to say I've never really read any books on writing? I've just always been a get on with it kind of person, maybe I'm lucky that way.

This is not to say I haven't studied the craft of writing, but I do it via workshops and the focus is on the technical aspects of writing rather than dealing with the various issues writers may suffer from.

Precy Larkins said...

I'm going to look this up. Thanks!