I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but something about the cover of this book spoke to me. Then I bought the book wondering what instructions the author’s got about life, and thought I wouldn’t mind getting better at writing.

This book is mostly about writing stories. But rather than focusing on writing techniques, it focuses on the mental challenges and how to handle them. It talks about what to write about, and the creative process. I found it very inspiring and real.

As Anne pointed out, most people imagine published writers to have creative ideas flowing out of their fingertips as the perfect words, and that they have a comfortable lifestyle surrounded by fame and fortune. In reality, they, at least the ones Anne knows, capture snippets of life and turn them into stories, and then go through long and tedious iterations of re-writing, while living on a very low amount of income. Then some of the writers get their work published, and very few of them can make a living out of writing. But they still write, because the act of writing is the reward. The reward is the feeling of getting a day’s work done, and telling the truth to help humans understand who we are, and feel connected.

The book is full of heart-warming tips. I’ll highlight a few.

Write shitty first drafts

Perfectionism and judgements stop ideas and innovation. Allow yourself to write horrible first drafts. Even for the experts, the creative process involves making a very rough start, and then an incredible amount of effort to shape it up.

Focus on one small thing at a time

Long projects are achieved by doing one very small task at a time. Looking at and thinking about how much work there is left to do can paralyse you. I liked this analogy from the book—writing a book is like driving in the dark. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip this way.

Write some words everyday

I’ve heard experts from different fields saying similar things. If you want to be good at something, practise a little every day. It seems like the secret to me.

Listen to your characters

Anne believes that the creative ideas are created by the unconscious mind, and we are here to help them surface and put them together. Anne talks about quieting your mind and listening to the characters. Watch how they develop rather than imposing ideas onto them. I suddenly had a thought that we all have this capacity of creating lively characters with our minds, because we have mental models of the people we know, and that the characters in our dreams seem fully alive.

“A gold medal is a wonderful thing; but if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.”

Publishing a book doesn’t make you happy ever after, nor does an Olympic gold medal. Happiness is a choice, not the side effect of accomplishments.

“The truth doesn’t come out in bumper stickers”

We tend to categorise things into pairs of opposites, because it’s easier to think this way. For example, is it good or bad? Is it narrow or wide? Is it green or red? But the reality is complex. That’s why it could take a whole book to tell what you believe is true. Anne says, writing is about telling the truth. Writers try to understand a little about life, and pass it on.

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