Writing About Writing About Writing 30

Part 30 of an intermittent series where I read or re-read the writing books on my shelf to see if they’re worth keeping. See previous part here and Index of all books here.

Quick health update – taking some time to get used to pacing as energy still seems to be poor. As per modus operandi I’ve read or am reading a few books on the subject. I enjoyed How to be Sick and am currently reading Pace Yourself. It turns out that unlike most other countries in the word the UK has decided (due, it seems to cost) that people with Pernicious Anemia only need injections every 3 months (the original periodicity, based on clinical evidence was 1 month – and there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that some people need it faster than that even). I certainly saw symptoms return after 4-5 weeks. Having visited the GP again it seems that they are willing to do injections every 8 weeks and no more. Considering a B12 deficiency can cause irreversible nerve damage this seems… less than optimal. The Pernicious Anemia Society have been trying to change this for years.

I’m struggling to get back on the horse – I did start a new writing journal and scratch out some ideas and even the start of a new short story, but still being in the grey lands means this is slow and sluggish and inchoate.

Anyway, to the matter in hand – WAWAW. As stated in the last blog post I took a detour into books about creativity, and am still there:

“Creativity – From Freud’s ‘On Creativity and the Unconscious’ to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘Creativity’ with a diversion via Howard Gardner’s ‘Art, Mind and Brain,’ I got interested in how creativity works. But these are fairly technical and dry books so I’ve been putting them off.”

However there have also been a few, more standard(?) writing books too.

Several years ago I visited Vienna for New Year’s Eve (I heartily recommend this – great atmosphere, lots of hot wine and a New Year’s day visit to one of the best spas I’ve ever been to). While there I did of course visit Freud’s museum and bought, in the gift shop, On Creativity and the Unconscious

In keeping with books about writing (although this isn’t specifically about writing) it has a terrible cover.

I chose this one because it has his famous essay on ‘The Uncanny’ within. There are some other essays on literature, “The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming”  being the best of that bunch. Some essays are insightful and thought-provoking but many are forgettable and only very tangentially of interest. I do recommend ‘The Uncanny’ and I’ll be keeping the book as a method of having that essay to hand, but you can find it plenty of places on the internet.

As, back in the mists of time, I was reading Writer’s Block books but never finished adding them to the blog I’ll cover them off now:

The Writer’s Crucible

Look at that cover! This was the last Writer’s Block book I attempted and I bounced off it, hard. Which I suspect was due to where I was mentally. Flicking through it now – many months later, I find I remember nothing about it, so I’m sticking it on the re-read pile, if I bounce again it gets ditched. I am again drawn in by the blurb – “Perhaps the most common vulnerability we face is the persistent sense of not being good enough.” and “…provides a map for navigating the turbulent, emotional waters of a creative life.” So, back on the shelf it goes – to be continued!

Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

I’ve actually read this twice now – once way before starting this blog series and, again recently when struggling with the block. I’d say it gives a good introduction to the woes of creativity, it’s not limited to writing though so it’s also worth reading if you’re any sort of artist. The main message this book conveys though is “Don’t Quit.” Advice I still need it seems…

Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

Very handsome book. An aesthetics of the ordinary, unfinished, simple and natural – and meaningful. The Japanese art of Wabi-Sabi which I knew very little about before diving into this book and now have a very brief grounding in due to it. It’s a lovingly made book, but it is very brief, and expensive for what amounted to an hour’s read (or less). Did make me want to explore the philosophy more, and yet so far I haven’t done.

In keeping with the Asian theme I also read a Chinese classic (while on retreat – a weekend I’d highly recommend) called Wen Fu

Again, incredibly brief – in fact I think the introduction was longer than Lu Chi’s words (which are all in poetic metre) but it feels like a book I can return to for some distilled wisdom.

Finding true joy, find laughter;

in sorrow, identify each sigh.

Sometimes the words come freely;

sometimes we sit in silence

gnawing on a brush.

Finally, for this post I read From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler

Which impressed me a lot. There are some lectures, followed by a ‘workshop’ and then some stories with critiques. This is a transcription of Butler’s graduate fiction course committed to paper through Janet Burroway (herself a writer of a classic writing text). “Butler reimagines the process of writing as emotional rather than intellectual.” So the blurb says, and he does have a particular process that is somewhat unusual in first creating a dreamspace from which to create inspired fiction. I’ll very much return to this, as having plucked it off the shelf since reading it many months ago it was immediately recallable, and my memories of reading it previously are fond ones. Writing that sparks.

So, that little lot remain on the shelf. I’ve immediately put the Wen Fu on the pile of books I’m currently, or about to, read.

Drop a comment with your favourite writing book or tip here or email me via the Contact page. If you’re a publisher or Indie Author and would like me to review your writing book drop me a line!