A much better outlook on writing.

[half_double]

The wise & insightful eal, who always seems to know how to poke & prod me into productivity, has shared with me the four noble truths of writer Gail Sher. They make me a lot happier than the raincloud Annie Dillard poured on me yesterday (hey, don't get me wrong; I love Annie Dillard. But, man. Reading that, essentially, writer's block is caused by a

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[jedicrow]

you're maleficent? that's so freakin' cool! :) :) :)

-me

[half_double]

Isn't it? I was terribly excited. Makes me wonder whatever happened to the animation cel I have from that movie. Probably in storage in my parents' garage somewhere....

[riverrocks]

I'm listening (actually, I'm listening so well, I'm going to make myself a poster with those four tenants on it and stick it to my laptop). The resounding chorus in my head these days is: Trust the process. If we're all gobbed up in the idea that everything needs to be perfect the first time, we never have the opportunity to make the mistakes that lead to the best endings. If I've learned anything from teaching the performance classes, it's been that some of the most profound, engaging art comes from breaking rules and taking risks and sometimes the biggest risk is to allow yourself to experience those moment where your whole self is so engaged in the process that the words/movements/pictures come through you instead of from you. I can't make those moments happen; I have to let them

[half_double]

Hah! See, I've only read Dillard's shorter nonfiction, where she didn't really have room to run into fatal plot flaws. That is good to know, though.

[anonymous]

Hey! Don't knock The Writing Life. She has a lot of really good things to say. Plus, the further you get into it, the more memoir-ish it gets. Frankly, I enjoy that more than instruction any day.
Speaking of writer-y books, I'm enjoying Writing Down the Bones. And I can see how Dillard's much more... stark take on writing would get to you. It's such a change from the way Goldberg writes.
But, like I said, stick with it. It's a good read. Trust me.

-PetiteFadette

[riverrocks]

I actually got some good things out of The Writing Life (though I do remember tweaking at the same place sid was commenting about. I don't even remember which book I refer to as 100 pages into the woods, but it was definitely fiction (well, I'm assuming that--when I'd read almost two hundred pages and still hadn't met any characters, I put it down and never picked it back up--heresy, I know, but hey, the woods were pretty but if I'm going camping I like to do it in a tent). ::grin::

Lane