This book so speaks to the contemporary writer that it is nearly impossible to believe that it was originally published in 1938. In If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland sets forth not just a philosophy about how to write or how to create, but also about how to live. Beginning writers will certainly be encouraged by Ueland's words, but even the most experienced have much to glean from Ueland's simple wisdom. "Everybody," writes Ueland in the opening chapter, "is talented, original, and has something important to say." Finding that something important involves embracing creative idleness ("the imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering"), freeing "what we really think, from what we think we ought to think," and "thumb[ing] your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters." One must think, she says, "of telling a story, not of writing it." And when revising one's writing, she advises, "do not try to think of better words, more gripping words.... It is not yet deeply enough imagined." Finally, "whenever you find yourself writing a single word or phrase or page dutifully and with boredom, then leave it out.... If what you write bores you, it will bore other people." And just because If You Want to Write is passionate, sincere, and even spiritual, do not think it is not also witty. One footnote bluntly declaims, "No doubt my terms would horrify a psychologist but I do not care at all." Elsewhere Ueland titles a chapter "Why Women Who Do Too Much Housework Should Neglect It for Their Writing." Amen, sister!


From Publishers Weekly
Ueland argues that anyone can write well once the imagination is freed from self-consciousness, anxiety and fear of failure. This is a fresh and vivid approach to creative endeavors. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Guy Kawasaki, MacUser
"If you buy this book and it doesn’t help you, I will give you your money back."


Andrei Codrescu, NPR
"I was with [Ueland] right up to the end and wanted to shout, 'Amen.'"


Women's Review of Books
"I only have to read a few sentences and I am infected with the desire to follow her."


Review
"It's a perfect book for both beginning and advanced writing students. It's wonderfully inspirational and can be coupled with just about any teaching technique."—Erin Cressida Wilson, Duke University

"The finest book written on the art and spirit of writing."—Shann Ferch, Gonzaga University (Spokane, WA)

"I have consistently used If You Want to Write for eight years now in English 241, and the students have loved it every semester."—Mel Livatino, Truman College (Chicago, IL)

"If You Want to Write does a superb job of reassuring student writers whose schooling has often robbed them of any confidence in their own voices. Nothing else I know does a better job of explaining to first-year college students the necessity of passion in the writer."—Shelby Grantham, Dartmouth College

"I was with [Ueland] right up to the end and wanted to shout, 'Amen.'"—Andrei Codrescu, poet, author, and National Public Radio commentator

"I only have to read a few sentences and I am infected with the desire to follow her."—Women's Review of Books



Book Description
In her 93 remarkable years, veteran freelance writer, memoirist, and writing teacher Brenda Ueland published some six million words. She once said there were two simple rules that she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not do anything she didn't want to do. Such integrity both distinguishes and defines If You Want to Write, her bestselling classic that first appeared in the late 1930s and has inspired thousands to find their own creative center. As Carl Sandburg once remarked, Ueland's primer is "the best book ever written on how to write."



About the Author
Brenda Ueland was born in Minneapolis in 1891. She published three books, including Me (an autobiography) and Strength to Your Sword Arm: Selected Writings, as well as several articles and short stories. A widely acclaimed teacher of writing for many years, Ueland was knighted by the King of Norway and set an international swimming record (for over-80-year-olds). She died in 1985.

ANNOTATION

Carl Sandburg called this book about art, independence, and spirit, "the best book ever written about how to write." Over 50 years since its publication, If You Want to Write continues to motivate aspiring writers.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In her 93 remarkable years, Brenda Ueland published six million words. She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn't want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her best-selling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book "The best book ever written about how to write." Yet Ueland reminds us that "Whenever I say 'writing' in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or to make." Ueland's writing and her teaching are made compelling by her feisty spirit of independence and joy.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly