review: If You Want To Write

by Barbara Ueland

every once in a while you come across a book that makes you wonder how you survived your whole life without it. If You Want To Write is just such a book.

you would expect a book with this title to help you be a better writer. what you wouldn't expect is that it not only does just that, but it makes you want to be a better person as well! in one chapter she says just this...

...i have come to think that the only way to become a better writer is to become a better person. {p. 117}

she writes of such authors as tolstoy, blake, and goethe, saying...

their writing, their art is merely a by-product, a cast-off creation of a great personality. and that is why i think we should all, great and small, be creating all the time, casting off our works but forgetting them, and looking always toward the work ahead. for only by seeing that our creations are vulgar and mean can we see what our souls are, and then, by our imagination, see how to be better. {p. 117}

the author had a serious crush on russian writers, quoting Chekhov and Dostoevsky and others numerous times, has caused me to add their works to my reading list.

even though the book was originally published in 1938, it in no way felt dated. sure, there were some places that were a little odd, especially when she quotes from some of her student's writing, but never once did it lose my attention or feel at all awkward.

i was truly sad to turn the last page of the book. i could have easily read the book had it been three times as long. and not only was i saddened by finishing the book, i actually feel a loss that i will never get a chance to meet this brilliant woman.

so, if you want to write, become a better person, or create better art, whatever your art may be, i highly recommend you pick up this gem. don't waste any more time before you get it into your library.

{book 2 of 75}

charlotte

i don't know if i've ever mentioned that i have a serious crush on charlotte martin's music. serious. like i own almost everything she's ever done kind of serious. like i listen to her every day kind of serious. like i wish i could hang out with her at starbucks so all the cool kids could see us together kind of serious.

if you need a reason why, she has a hauntingly beautiful voice, and her piano playing is heartbreakingly beautiful. check out her cover of the cure's just like heaven, or the absolutely beautiful snowflake. and to prove that she really is the super-coolest chick EVER, she goes and does an absolutely brilliant track gloriously entitled the stalker song, which i will admit to singing around the office at times.

as i was listening to her tonight, a line of one of her songs jumped out at me, something that every single girl should consider...

if you can't breathe with your head under water,
why should i be with you? | many rivers

if you've never listened to anything from her, stop now, go to iTunes and buy something. anything, it won't matter. her newest CD, piano trees is instrumental and so, so beautiful, but to really capture her at her lyrical best, start with something like orphans, or reproductions, or veins, or...

did i mention that i like her?

enough

i am grateful to my friend phil, who introduced to me to Solo, a new devotional book before he moved down south. during the time we worked together at PORTICO, phil actually introduced me to many books that have helped shape my life, but i am especially indebted to him for this one.

in this book, i was reading genesis 3, so close to the beginning of all things, when both adam and eve daily walked in the garden of eden with their Creator. but there was something lurking in the garden...

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

"Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, `You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'"

"You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."

The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the mans and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"

He replied, "I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked." (Genesis 3:1-10)

the thing that hit me as i read this today was this, 'they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves'. as soon as their eyes were opened, they realized that they, themselves were not enough. they needed to make clothes, they needed to add to themselves be acceptable. so close to their creation, so close to their Creator, they suddenly realized that there was something wrong, and they were lacking. they needed to add things to cover their shame, to make themselves worthy.

i think that almost every stupid thing i have ever done has probably been because i don't feel like i am enough. that i need to be smarter, funnier, better dressed, more together, prettier, holier... whatever, before i can be accepted... before i am good enough... before i am enough.

so this morning, i feel a kinship with eve and adam that i have never felt before. having the advantage of a few thousand years on them, i do have some perspective that my friends lacked. i know the rest of the story that God alluded to as he evicted them from the garden of eden. i know that lifetimes later there would be a baby born who would save the world from their incessant quest to be enough. that this baby would grow into a man who would turn the world upside down with his teaching, and in his death, bridge the gap between mankind and their Creator.

i know this.

so for today, i won't try to be more anything. i will be faithful to my God who made sure that i would have everything i need to be complete in him.

because of Jesus, i am enough.

review: Voices of the Faithful by Beth Moore & Kim P. Davis

confession: i am a sucker for a pretty book.

with that out of the way, Voices of the Faithful: Book 2, a devotional by beth moore and kim p. davis definitely qualifies for a check mark in the 'pretty' category. but it doesn't stop there. laced through the pages of this beautiful devotional are the real stories of joy, pain, unbelievable courage and overarching love of those serving in the mission fields of our planet. true accounts of a different kind of beauty.

each reading is a narrative of ordinary people living extraordinary lives simply by being obedient. broken down by months into different themes, as you read through the month, you cannot help but be moved. my favorite months were january {prayer} and november {encouragement}. january's readings reminded me of the incredible power of prayer, and how God's omnipresence is no match for the vastness of our world. november was a great reminder for me of exactly how strong a little encouragement can be for people who are up against more than we may ever imagine.

with our pace of life it's too easy to forget that there are those living out their faith in places without the conveniences we have at our fingertips, places where living out faith can be a dangerous prospect. Voices of the Faithful: Book 2 is the perfect tool to inform us of what is going on in the lives of other believers outside of our neighborhoods... and maybe even inspire some to live extraordinary lives of their own!


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

consider how you listen

do you ever notice a theme recurring in your life?

as i've lived through the eight days already behind me in this year, there has been one repeating theme, and that is of listening. the most recent occurrence being in this morning's devotions, when in the book of Luke, after explaining the parable of the sower to his disciples, Jesus said,

"consider carefully how you listen".

to be honest, i don't know if i have ever considered {carefully or otherwise} how i listen. but given the fact that this seems to be the theme of this year so far, i am going to have to change this. perhaps 2010 will be the year of listening.

* * * * *

it is the province of knowledge to speak,
and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen. | oliver wendell holmes

challenge

yesterday in her blog, margaret feinberg threw out what she calls The Book Challenge 2010. she committed to reading 75 books this year, and challenged her readers to pick the number of books they were going to commit to reading in 2010.

this came just after i changed the column on the left of my blog noting the number of books i've read from 'read in 2009' to 'read in 2010', and noticed that i only read 23 books in 2009.

only 23?! that's not even two a month.

i know that the more you read, the stronger your mind and focus becomes. the better you write. the more creative you are. and that is just the process of reading itself! the actual content of the books you choose to read can help shape and redefine the way you look at life.

given all this, i think it is needless to say that i was less than impressed with my total, so when i heard of this reading challenge, i jumped at it.

i have committed to reading at least 75 books this year, with a secret hope that i will hit 100. and it's not like there is any shortage of reading material. my bookshelves are lined with books i promised to read long ago... not to mention that i actually got four books for christmas this year! {three cara black mysteries and francis chan's 'forgotten God'}.

so, what about you? feel up to joining in this challenge with me? it doesn't need to be 75 books, you just need to pick a number, and go for it. it can include textbooks and audiobooks.

are you up for it?

beginnings

as i am sure you've noticed by my lack of posts, i am having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things. a busy christmas season followed by a very busy nine days with the family, throw in a two hour time difference, and 2010 has not seen the early riser that i know i can be.

so in this, my first post of the year... decade, even, i would be greatly remiss if i didn't begin with a quote from one of my two favorite men—writers, of course.

this is from a relatively new book called A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke. this is the reading from january 1.

i choose to begin
ranier maria rilke

i love all beginnings, despite their anxiousness and their uncertainty, which belong to every commencement. if i have earned a pleasure or reward, or if i wish that something had not happened; if i doubt the worth of an experience and remain in my past—then i choose to begin at this very second.

begin what? i begin. i have already thus begun a thousand lives.