This and Bradshaw are like book-ends on my current journey. I just finished this one on the plane on Tuesday. I am still amazed by the currency of this book that was originally published in 1938. I have just read the second edition, released 45 years later in 1983. I accidentally picked up this book browsing in City Lights bookstore in the North Beach section of San Francisco. In doing study for my writing, I have come across several Web sites for writers. In one of these, a professional writer (whose name escapes me) listed this book among those on his bookshelf with the caption: I read this when I do not feel like writing!.
This book is not only about writing. It is about any type of creative activity. The subtitle from the cover of the book is: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit. I have never read a book that praises work when it is creative.
The major theme of this book is: expose your divine self. I guess I think of it like my golf stroke. On every hole, I make one good golf shot (at least). So the ability to play golf is inside me. I just have to let it out.
Her other messages of note (about writing):
One area that she describes struck me most deeply. She calls this microscopic truthfulness. My notes for this say: study something minutely; glean it's essence; and describe your own feeling. I used to do some cartooning when I was in the USAF in the 1970's. And I came to enjoy (some of) my own depictions. And I learned that noone looks at a spoon (or any other subject) as closely as an artist. And an artist certainly follows these steps. This chapter took me right back to those days more that 20 years ago.
You can get this at Amazon.
Last Update: 15Jan98