If You Want to Write
If You Want to Write
Brenda Ueland
Guy Kawasaki
Perhaps my favorite book of all time. - Guy Kawasaki
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If You Want to Write

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

Brenda Ueland
By
Brenda Ueland
4.1
8473
ratings on Goodreads

In the heart of Brenda Ueland's timeless classic, "If You Want to Write," lies an invigorating challenge to the creative spirit that resides in each of us. Ueland, with her prodigious experience distilled into passionate prose, embarks on a mission not just to teach the mechanics of writing, but to awaken the fearless creator within. Her philosophy, simple yet profound, is built on the twin pillars of truthfulness and the pursuit of joy in one's work. This book is less a manual on the craft of writing and more a manifesto for unleashing the boundless potential of the human imagination. Through her insightful and often whimsical guidance, Ueland encourages readers to shed the shackles of self-doubt and societal expectation, and embrace a form of creative expression that is authentic, lively, and uniquely their own. Carl Sandburg hailed it as "The best book ever written about how to write," yet to pigeonhole it as merely a book on writing would be to overlook its universal appeal. Ueland's wisdom transcends the act of writing to touch upon the essence of all creative endeavors. She argues convincingly that the act of creating—be it writing, painting, or any form of self-expression—should be driven by love, curiosity, and a steadfast commitment to honesty. "If You Want to Write" is not just a book; it's a liberating force that propels you toward realizing your own capacity for creativity. It's a heartfelt reminder that the power to create lies not in external validation but in our own internal sources of inspiration and determination. For anyone standing at the crossroads of wanting to create but fearing to begin, Ueland's masterpiece is a beacon of light, offering courage, inspiration, and the permission to begin.

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Released
2012
21 Feb
Length
179
Pages

1

recommendations

recommendation

Perhaps my favorite book of all time. - Guy Kawasaki
When Van Gogh was a young man in his early twenties, he was in London studying to be a clergyman. He had no thought of being an artist at all. he sat in his cheap little room writing a letter to his younger brother in Holland, whom he loved very much. He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lampost, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: "it is so beautiful I must show you how it looks." And then on his cheap ruled note paper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it.When I read this letter of Van Gogh's it comforted me very much and seemed to throw a clear light on the whole road of Art. Before, I thought that to produce a work of painting or literature, you scowled and thought long and ponderously and weighed everything solemnly and learned everything that all artists had ever done aforetime, and what their influences and schools were, and you were extremely careful about *design* and *balance* and getting *interesting planes* into your painting, and avoided, with the most astringent severity, showing the faintest *acedemical* tendency, and were strictly modern. And so on and so on.But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it.And Van Gogh's little drawing on the cheap note paper was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care.
— Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write

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