Book
Review:
Room to Write: Daily
Invitations
to a Writer's Life,
by Bonni Goldberg
Reviewed
by
JD Cates
©2003, JD Cates
have an ugly confession to make: Until January of this year, I suffered from a
writer's block that had lasted roughly 15 years. I would sit down to write a
short story, lock up, and give up on myself. I would try a few more times. Then,
a few days (or weeks or months) later, I would go grab a book on creative
writing to try and get myself jumpstarted again. But all the books seemed to
fall into one of three categories, and none of them seemed to help.
The
first were what I call "Standards of Good Writing." These offered
necessary but dry instruction on grammar, spelling, character and plotline.
Great information, but my creative side would usually wind up afraid to say
anything for fear of failing to dot an I, cross a T, or explain my character
properly.
So,
I would try what I call the "Creativity is All" books. Here I would
find advice on describing something 15 different ways, or exercises like
standing on my head to get a different perspective of the world. My rational
side would balk, wondering just what any of this had to do with simply telling
the stories in my head!
And,
finally, there were the "How I Do It" books.
These were books by established writers explaining how they applied
various items from the first two categories. They were great reading and had
some good information; unfortunately, most of the writers would turn right
around and emphasize that ultimately I had to find my own voice and do it my own
way--but they never managed to give much help on discovering just what "my
voice" or "my own way" was.
Thank
goodness for Bonni Goldberg, and thank goodness I found her book. Drawing on
over 20 years' experience, this writer, poet, and creative writing teacher
avoided a variety of pitfalls to achieve something rare indeed. In Room to
Write, Ms. Goldberg has created 200 simple writing exercises that: a)
explain a concept to the rational brain, b) engage the creative side in
exploring it on paper, and c) draw out the reader/writer's own voice in the
process.
The
lessons cover everything from plot, characterization, and common themes in
literature to exploring thoughts, experiences, and pitfalls that only a writer
would understand. The ultimate goal of the book, though, is to coax the writer
to apply pen to paper--or fingers to keyboard--and write. It's something
Goldberg does well.
The
exercises are easy and nonjudgmental. They
are constructed in such a way that they can be tried more than once, and many
are open enough that they can easily be applied to a work in progress. In
addition to the choices on how to complete most lessons, the author encourages
us to tackle them in any order; structure is simply not allowed to interfere
with what we need to write.
Rather,
the structure of the book itself quietly supports the writer's life. Each lesson
has been fit on a single page, and the publisher has thoughtfully given us the
book as a 5"x7" paperback. It's a compact little companion that can be
toted around as easily as note paper or a laptop; portability, which can so
quickly become a hindrance to actually using a book like this, is simply not an
issue.
The
overall result is a book that is all that the title promises and more: a
perpetual invitation to live a writer's life today.
I encourage any creative writer who has ever had trouble getting the
words to flow to go out, grab a copy, and guard it like it was gold. It could
easily become your new best friend--constantly calling you to sit down, be kind
to yourself, and write.
---------
Room
to Write: Daily Invitations to a Writer's Life
by Bonni Goldberg
Publisher: J. P. Tarcher (April 1996)
ISBN: 0-87477-825-5