Reading: The War of Art

I recently read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I didn't realize when I picked up this book that it was by the same author of The Legend of Bagger Vance. I've been reading several "legend" style stories lately (including a great play by the name This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing).

I mention this because one of my main goals in the summer is to put a dent in my enormous "to be read" pile. In this particular book, Pressfield shows the reader how we are our own worst enemy when it comes to creating (this does not mean publication, pay, etc. - just the act of creating). However, the book is not just aimed at writers, he shows how these same ideas apply to business and Pressfield tries to inspire his audience to seize their full potential.

This text is divided into three parts: 1) Resistance: Defining the Enemy, 2) Combating Resistance: Turning Pro, and 3) Beyond Resistance: The Higher Realm.

While this manual is not my favorite read about craft, it certainly offers some worthy insights, advice, and general wisdom for anyone in search of personal or professional fulfillment. This book is more about motivation than earning a specific skill. Pressfield begins with thoughts such as, “There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard.  What's hard is sitting down to write.” Each of the three sections is full of stories of his experiences and thoughts meant to prompt you not to give up, "Creative work is not a selfish act of a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it.  Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got."

Overall, this book is a good read that can be completed in a single day or spread out over months. Some "chapters" are only a paragraph long while others are multiple pages. Go at your own pace, digest, then continue.

How about you? Have you read this book? Have your read anything else by this author? What are your thoughts?

Reading Lists and Ray Bradbury

A few years ago, I went through a Ray Bradbury phase. You can read about my fascination with him here: The Language of Ray Bradbury.  Also: Genius of Bradbury. Before that, I hadn't read much by him. 

I mention this because one of my main goals this summer was to put a dent in my enormous "to be read" pile. Recently, I was able to finish another of his books Zen in the Art of Writing. This book is a collection of essays the author wrote over the course of multiple decades on the joys and struggles of both reading and writing.

"Bradbury, all charged up, drunk on life, joyous with writing, puts together past essays on writing and creativity and discharges every ounce of zest and gusto in him."--Kirkus Reviews 

I enjoyed this book tremendously and found myself revisiting some of the essays multiple times in the last two months. He shares some of his personal experiences, wisdom, advice, and excitement for the craft.

"Zen and the Art of Writing is purely and simply Bradbury's love song to his craft."--Los Angeles Times

How about you? What goals are you working to accomplish? What are you doing to enjoy your love of the craft? I wish you the best of luck!

Recommended Reading

There are a few books I would like to recommend for both readers and writers. I am currently working on another degree, and just finished these in my classes. The first two I chose for an analysis project. We were asked to compare and contrast a classic piece with a more contemporary one. I found both of these enjoyable. The other two books were used as classroom textbooks, or reference reading material, and I found them both beneficial.

1) Persuasion by Jane Austen 

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you.” ― Jane Austen, Persuasion

Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death. Persuasion has been the subject of several adaptations, including four made-for-television adaptation, theatre productions, radio broadcasts, and other literary works.

The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of twenty-seven years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife's brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, was engaged to Anne in 1806, but the engagement was broken when Anne was "persuaded" by her friends and family to end their relationship. Anne and Captain Wentworth, both single and unattached, meet again after a seven-year separation, setting the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne in her second "bloom".

The novel was well-received in the early 19th century, but its greater fame came later in the century and continued into the 20th and 21st centuries. Much scholarly debate on Austen's work has since been published. Anne Elliot is noteworthy among Austen's heroines for her relative maturity. As Persuasion was Austen's last completed work, it is accepted as her most maturely written novel, showing a refinement of literary conception indicative of a woman approaching forty years
age. Her use of free indirect discourse in narrative was in full evidence by 1816.

2) Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

Miss Pettigrew, an approaching-middle-age governess, was accustomed to a household of unruly English children. When her employment agency sends her to the wrong address, her life takes an unexpected turn. The alluring nightclub singer, Delysia LaFosse, becomes her new employer, and Miss Pettigrew encounters a kind of glamour that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.

Now a major motion picture starring Frances McDormand (Fargo) and Amy Adams (Enchanted)! 

“Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humor to be rediscovered?”—Guardian

“The sweetest grown-up book in the world.”—Sunday Times

“Everyone, no matter how poor or prim or neglected, has a second chance to blossom in the world.”—Daily Mail, in reference to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

A major film released in 2008, Miss Pettigrew Lives for Day is a delightful, funny, lighthearted novel. First published in 1938, it was reissued in the United Kingdom in 2000, complete with thirty-five original illustrations, and has sold over 22,000 copies.

3) A Writer's Craft by Kendall Dunkelberg

This introductory creative writing text uses a unique, multi-genre approach to provide students with a broad-based knowledge of their craft, treating them as professional writers. Beginning by discussing elements common to all genres, this book underscores the importance of learning good writing habits before committing to a genre, encouraging writers to look beyond their genre expectations and learn from other forms.

The book then devotes one chapter to each of the major literary genres: fiction, poetry, drama and creative nonfiction. These style-specific sections provide depth as they compare the different genres, furnishing students with a comprehensive understanding of creative writing as a discipline and fostering creativity. The discussion concludes with a chapter on digital media and an appendix on literary citizenship and publishing. With exercises at the end of each chapter, a glossary of literary terms, and a list of resources for further study, A Writer's Craft is the ideal companion to an introductory creative writing class. It has been listed as one of the 'Best Books for Writers' by Poets and Writers magazine.

4) Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings by Linda Anderson

Creative Writing is a complete writing course that will jump-start your writing and guide you through your first steps towards publication.

Suitable for use by students, tutors, writers’ groups or writers working alone, this book offers:

• a practical and inspiring section on the creative process, showing you how to stimulate your creativity and use your memory and experience in inventive ways
• in-depth coverage of the most popular forms of writing, in extended sections on fiction, poetry and life writing, including biography and autobiography, giving you practice in all three forms so that you might discover and develop your particular strengths
• a sensible, up-to-date guide to going public, to help you to edit your work to a professional standard and to identify and approach suitable publishers
• a distinctive collection of exciting exercises, spread throughout the workbook to spark your imagination and increase your technical flexibility and control
• a substantial array of illuminating readings, bringing together extracts from contemporary and classic writings in order to demonstrate a range of techniques that you can use or adapt in your own work.

Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings presents a unique opportunity to benefit from the advice and experience of a team of published authors who have also taught successful writing courses at a wide range of institutions, helping large numbers of new writers to develop their talents as well as their abilities to evaluate and polish their work to professional standards. These institutions include Lancaster University and the University of East Anglia, renowned as consistent producers of published writers.

What about you? Have you read any of these books? Do you have any books to recommend?