Becoming a Writer

I’m a fan of old tomes like Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande, first published in 1934. This is the kind of self-help book we all wish we could write, one that so hits the mark that it endures for 75 years and is as relevant today as when it was first published. Despite the immense changes in technology and communication that one becomes aware of when considering Brande’s quaint advice to purchase a typewriter and to learn to type, the fact that the essential problems of the beginning or ineffective writer continue to inhibit the success of so many substantiates the universal usefulness of Brande’s work.

Confirmation of the value of this book can be found in the content of the 50+ reviews on Amazon, with many of the reviewers acknowledging this as not only a pioneer publication giving rise to a whole genre of valuable books on becoming a writer, such as Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, but also a seminal inspiration for their own literary successes. As one reviewer of the book states “this book won’t teach word craft, but it will certainly help you decide whether you have the resolve and mind set to write or just want to talk about writing.” It’s a book about how to get down to the business of writing, how to overcome the innate resistance to writing that many of us struggle with despite the fact that we deeply and sincerely desire to be able to write.

Brande describes the “Four Difficulties” that can present themselves when one undertakes a writing career – the difficulty of writing at all, the one book writer, the occasional writer, and the uneven writer. She offers practical exercises designed to tap the writer’s unique artistic genius including how to fall into the “artistic coma.” One of my favorite sections is entitled “Dissociation, Not Always Psychopathic.”

This is a motivational book as well as a how-to. The fact that this review exists is one more small piece of supporting evidence of the work’s enduring efficacy.

• Purchase Becoming a Writer from Amazon.com.
• Purchase Becoming a Writer from Amazon.ca.