Books that change you
Posted by Jo | Filed under Books
Have you ever read something that changed the way you look at things, work, write, interact with people, etc.? It doesn’t have to be a classic or even something terribly well-written. Here are a couple from my list, what’s yours?
Eugene O’Neill’s early plays
O’Neill is arguable one of the United States’ greatest playwrights, and he was the subject of my Master’s thesis. So, I read pretty much everything he’d ever written. Let me tell you, some of his early stuff is bad. Really. Incredibly. Bad.
How did this influence me? I figured that if someone could start out writing so badly and turn out so great, then I shouldn’t kick myself when I turn out something awful. It was a concrete reminder that even great writers churn out their fair share of garbage.
Elizabeth Zimmermann
I’m a knitter, and Elizabeth Zimmermann is a bit of a guru in many knitting circles. If I had to sum up her philosophy, then it would be to do what you want and not worry about rules, should’s, ought-to’s, etc.
What better advice can there be for a writer?
Write what you feel compelled to write, how you want to write it. Don’t worry about all the naysayers, those who tell you what you really should be writing and how it ought to be done.
While these may seem a bit odd, I think it’s testament that we often find inspiration in strange places.
Getting Things Done
Yes, a productivity book. In general, I think productivity books are a huge source of procrastination. Isn’t it fun to make lists and plans? It absolves us from actually getting down to work.
I like this because it gave me a simple way of keeping track of what I need to do and knowing exactly where I am in a project. Once I started thinking about my work as a project that’s divisible into small, manageable parts, I had a much easier time getting started.
StevePavlina.com
Okay, so this one isn’t a book. The site is full of advice on personal development, but I particularly like his discussions of polarity. To summarize, people operate from either a polarity of love or of fear. It’s a useful way to examine others’ behavior, or my own.
So, I can understand a competitive coworker when I understand that he’s operating from a fear polarity. If nothing else, it helps me not take his snide comments personally.
Further Reading
- Getting it All Done: Finding Time to Write
- Great Opening Lines
- Writing Inspiration
- Taking the Night Off
- Super Writing Advice
September 27th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Great advice and thoughts. It is comforting to know many ‘great’ authors had their bad manuscripts.
In no particular order, books that have had an impact on the way I think, feel, or act….
‘The Entrepreneurial Woman’ back in the late seventies or very early eighties encouraged me to reach for the dream of owning my own business.
‘The Bible’ Who could have imagined a text written thousands of years ago and assembled hundreds of years ago could have significance in my life today. It does. And while I don’t claim divine inspiration, I realize that my words can have an effect on some one.
‘Gone With the Wind’ I learned a lot from the mistakes Scarlett made.
‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ Seek first to understand is something that’s helped me in many, many situations. Now, to work on the other six…
‘God Will Make a Way’ At a time when despair threatened to overwhelm me, this book appeared on the shelves. It helped me focus and see past my pain and hopelessness. And, the lesson that words have power.
‘The Cat Master’ by Bonnie Pemberton…my friend. I watched and listened as she wrote this book. I watched as she struggled to sell it, then edit it, then market it. But, amazing to me, was holding it in my hands. From type pages to a hardback book. The dream of writing is REAL.