Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of this review of Becoming a Writer, we saw how Dorothea Brande believes that the biggest obstacle a writer faces is herself.

This book was written when authors type in their magnum opuses on typewriters, but we still find that the same problems exist. The writer still needs to find the conscious and the unconscious even in the internet age, when one can be at a loss when it comes to the unconscious as the mind is forever attached to the activity of scrolling, evaluating, liking and sharing.

The writer needs then to find herself. She can learn to see again and treat herself once more as a child who sees everything as new and full of infinite potential so that nothing is lost on her.

She can find herself through meditation. I found this curious as at this moment I’m reading a book about how to meditate. So how do you meditate? You watch your thoughts, you focus on an object and in case you want to write a book, you meditate on the character, the plot, and the setting. Then they come to life on the page.

A writer must be able to answer the tough questions- she should know her mind if she is to write. As we all must have felt, writing is a sort of meditation in itself, a discovery of what drives us.  More than imitating another writer, an author must find out what she sees through her own lens.

So once you decide to write and you put aside fifteen minutes a day and then double this amount, you can write a piece then and there and complete it. Completion is essential if writing is what you want to do with your life.

One piece of advice I found useful is that a writer must have hobbies besides books. Stay away from books if you are to refresh the mind. Many times writers are so filled with other people’s words, it stops them from using words to express their own thoughts.

A very useful book indeed, agrees Zen Scribe. Read it and sort your writing troubles away.

 

 

3 Comments

  1. Pingback: Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande (Part 1) | InstaScribe

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