Judy Reeves maps out an intriguing and, most importantly, inspiring course to encourage writers
to do what they do best—write. I've read other how-to's such as Jessica Page Morrell’s Between the Lines and William Strunk’s awesome Elements of Style , but no other books have reawakened the writer within as this book has. Focusing little on the technical side of
writing, the book dives straight into the subconscious aspect of creative writing, of tapping into the right brain, which holds shores of bright imagery.
You won’t find any lessons on grammar here or tips on how to structure your fiction. Details on writing itself are skimpy.
But since I got the book, I’ve been writing more and I approach the blank page, relaxed, and let my pen flow smoothly over its surface, spilling the black, black ink onto the white paper.
The book emphasizes the idea of keeping a writer’s notebook, the equivalent to an artist’s sketchbook. You write as often as you can in your notebook, and keep it handy so that you’re ready to jot down any sudden inspiration. The author provides at least 365 prompts—short phrases to get you started writing—or a topic a day for a year. These are as simple as “Write about Sunday afternoon,” (January 1) or as mind-tickling as “write about the ‘sky you were born under.’ (after Joy Harjo)” (January 28). Your images might transfer to paper as a poem, short story, or maybe even a play.
Besides the writing prompts, the book goes into the essentials of writing—using lively verbs, apt adjectives, and writing with the senses—and writerly activities, like going on field trips to renew yourself, closely observing everyday objects, and even going wild (for a writer) once in a while. The book tells you what you should be writing like, if not exactly how to write.
There’s little advice on the how’s of writing. You won’t learn how to structure a sentence, how to write paragraph by paragraph. But you will learn to trust the intuitive, artistic side of your subconscious, so that your writing feels freer, and you will find that you can write some really creative stuff. At this point, writers should give themselves a pat on the back, though it'd be gross ( maybe funny) if the writer holds a pointy Papermate pen while he does this. At least rub your belly (it works) to reward your writerly self.
The book has its faults. It covers so much ground that the reader feels compelled to flip back and forth just to pick up on certain points again. But this is a very small flaw, if a
problem at all. A great benefit that comes from reading this book is that writer’s block poses an ever-shrinking problem. At least three sections of the book address the issue of getting past being stuck, and the whole idea of the book is to get you creating and writing. Your writing muscles loosen up and you’ll find that you feel free, as though the self-critic that perches on your shoulder has left. Editing should always come after, not during, writing.
If this book can make me, the busy person I am, want to sit down, write, and enjoy it, it can make most anyone do the same.