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XML FeedsInspirational Books
13/11/08
Inspirational Books
I don’t recall reading anything by Julia Cameron before. But a few weeks ago I acquired two books she authored from a good friend who says she gets a great deal of pleasure trawling second-hand book stores for writing books for me. I take them as a favour so she can continue to feel her pleasure. They sit at the top of my office bookcase until I’m stuck for something to read and take one down.
This time she really came up trumps. I started to read The Right to Write and was immediately entranced. Author Julia Cameron is in love with writing; she makes no bones about it. On the first page of the introduction, I found
“Writing has for thirty-plus years been my constant companion, my lover, my friend, my job, my passion, and what I do with myself and the world I live in.”
The book is intended as “a cheerleader for those trying the writing life, a companion for those living it, and a thank you to my own writing”.
This author believes that many of us become inhibited with our writing by being taught to structure it at school, and are criticised for straying from the point, or for bad spelling or grammar. We lose the joy of freedom of expression and the natural incentive to write. When we do write, we try too hard.
Each chapter of the book so far – I’m now half way through – discusses an aspect of this and ends with an exercise that doesn’t always include writing, but might instead be a way to make us enhance our life experience and think outside the box. Her argument is that this will always enrich our writing.
The chapters are dotted with anecdotes from her own life or other people she knows. They are also dotted with description and a sense of place. This is important, she says, because we need to write from where we are. It doesn’t have to be in an office or a writing room, you can write anywhere – the launderette, a coffee shop, the dentist’s waiting room – wherever you are. If you do it, anywhere, you are a writer.
There are no distinctions between published and unpublished, either. You should have self worth as a writer whether or not you are published, or want to be. Some people just write wonderful letters and journal entries that are not meant for public consumption. They are still writers.
One chapter is called, Mood. It begins, “I am not in the mood to write today. My thoughts are cranky and resistant.”
But later, “One thing I do know about writing is that you don’t have to be in the mood to do it.
Being in the mood to write, like being in the mood to make love, is a luxury that isn’t necessary in a long-term relationship. Just as the first caress can lead to a change of heart, the first sentence, no matter how tentative or awkward, can lead to a desire to go just a little further.”
This she proves at the end of the chapter.
“I am still writing because I am having fun doing it. This was, you’ll remember, a morning when I did not want to write. My sentences were as cranky as my horses. Just now the sun over the mountain is gilding Carolina’s particolored mane. She is preening her head over the fence, ears perked. Listening. I have always thought the sound of a good typewriter reminded me of my childhood pony Chico’s rapidly tapping hooves.
I did not want to write this morning. I am delighted that I have.”
Julia Cameron’s habit is always to write three pages longhand over her first morning cup of coffee. She calls them her Morning Pages and recommends that we do the same, to capture the freshness of what is in our minds at the start of each day. Each chapter in the book finishes with an exercise. Developing this habit is one of these exercises.
Although I don’t agree with everything in the book, it obviously works well for the author. Her enthusiasm shines through her prose and keeps me reading late into the night. I’m also finding it inspirational and infectious. Instead of continuing to read the book, I found myself scribbling through two whole hours of a train journey yesterday.
I can’t wait to finish this book and start reading The Sound of Paper, the next Julia Cameron on my shelf.
The Right to Write, subtitled An Initiation and Invitation into the Writing Life, was first published in 1999, and The Sound of Paper, subtitled Inspiration and Practical Guidance for Starting the creative Process, in 2004.
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