Thursday, July 20, 2006

got inspiration

Need, passion, fire in the belly, unfathomable pain, compulsion; whatever it is that makes you write. Day after day, despite naysayers and odds, you rise to write. Whether you're looking to be published or just to improve your craft, I hope you find something here. The beginning seems a fine place to begin. I'd been writing a long time but never cleaved to the fact that I was a writer. Never trusting my voice, I let others dictate how I lived my life. I kept the stories inside me. Occasionally one would get out and show up in a magazine or a contest but still I saw that as an aberration. One of the first writing books I purchased that helped me to own my story and abide in my voice was Natalie Goldberg'sWriting Down the Bones. Even today, I can pull it off the shelf and it opens my mind in ways I never expect. Here are a few more texts that serve as ready inspiration when I find it hard to unwind and eradicate the days sludge from my psyche.
Wild Mind - Natalie Goldberg
How Writer's Work - Ralph Fletcher
Becoming a Writer - Dorothea Brande
Lively Art of Writing - Lucile Vaughan Payne
Aha - 10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit - Jordan Ayan - This isn't a book about writing specifically. It allows you to free your creative spirit in other ways and it affects all your areas of creativity.

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