The Best Book on Writing You’ve Never Heard Of

When I was a college undergrad, one of my English professors assigned us to go find a book on writing (this was pre-Amazon, so we literally had to “go” find books), read it, and then write a review. The majority of the class reviewed the popular books: On Writing; Bird by Bird; Writing Down the Bones.

But me? Nah. I’ve never been one to willingly pick anything “popular.” Boring!

When a Book on Writing Finds You

And anyway, I didn’t find a book on writing, a book on writing found me. If you’re familiar with Sedona, Arizona, where I lived at the time, you’ll understand what I mean here. A new age Mecca pumping with vortex energy and balanced chakras, If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland summoned me to it.

That was twenty-some years ago. And to this day, it is still the absolute best book on writing I’ve ever read. Because it isn’t just about writing; as the subtitle states, it’s “a book about art, independence and Spirit.” All the best things!

If You Want To Write was published in 1939.

Written in 1939 by firecracker Brenda Ueland, this book was extremely progressive for the era. Example: “Families are great murderers of the creative impulse, particularly husbands.” Boldly ahead of its time on social commentary, it’s also an indisputably timeless piece of work.

A Book for All Creatives, Not Just Writers

And though it’s indeed about writing, as my professor assigned, it is also not only for writers, but for all creatives—which is, Ueland argues, everyone! In her words, “whenever I say ‘writing’ in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or make.”

What ultimately makes this book so epic is Ueland’s deep understanding that creativity is spirituality—and that art is necessity, not luxury. “This creative power should be kept alive in all people for all their lives… Why? Because it is life itself. It is the Spirit. In fact it is the only important thing about us. The rest of us is legs and stomach, materialistic cravings and fears.”

And it isn’t just me who claims this book is the best writing book literally ever: Pulitzer Prize winning poet Carl Sandburg called this book “the best book ever written about how to write.” 

Quotes That Capture Ueland’s Genius

“The best book ever written about how to write” is a big claim. There’s no better way to give you a glimpse of the genius of it than to share some more of my favorite quotes:

• “We all start our lives as little children, full of light and the clearest vision… Then we go to school and then comes on the great Army of schoolteachers with their critical pencils, and parents and older brothers (the greatest sneerers of all) and cantankerous friends, and finally that Great Murderer of the Imagination—a world of unceasing, unkind, dinky, prissy, Criticalness.”
• “This creative power and imagination is in everyone, and so is the need to express it, i.e., to share it with others. But what happens to it? It is very tender and sensitive, and it is usually drummed out of people early in life by criticism (so-called “helpful criticism” is often the worst kind), by teasing, jeering, rules, prissy teachers, critics, and all those unloving people who forget that the letter killeth and the spirit giveth life.”
• “This joyful, imaginative, impassioned energy dies out of us very young. Why? Because we do not see that it is great and important. Because we let dry obligation take its place. Because we don’t respect it in ourselves and keep it alive by using it. And because we don’t keep it alive in others by listening to them.”
• “Do not keep the creative power away by telling yourself the worst of lies—that you haven’t any.”
• “The only good teachers for you are those friends who love you, who think you are interesting, or very important, or wonderfully funny; whose attitude is: “Tell me more. Tell me all you can. I want to understand more about everything you feel and know and all the changes inside and out of you. Let more come out. And if you have no such friend—and you want to write—well, then you must imagine one.”
• “It is our nasty twentieth-century materialism that makes us feel: what is the use of writing, painting, etc., unless one has an audience or gets cash for it? Socrates and the men of the Renaissance did so much because the rewards were intrinsic, i.e, the enlargement of the soul.”
• “Art is infection. The artist has a feeling and he expresses it and at once this feeling infects other people and they have it too. And the infection must be immediate or it isn’t art.”
• “I have come to think that the only way to become a better writer is to become a better person. By better I do not mean goody-goodier, for a great person often does things that so-called good people think very bad indeed.”

Whew—delicious, right? And that’s just a very small sampling!

Final Words from Brenda Ueland

I’ll leave you with a final quote from Ueland, my absolute favorite: “The faster you run and accomplish a lot of useless things, the more you are dead.” I often wonder what Ueland would think of our world today. 

She would surely be astounded by how society has accelerated into a state of near-total disconnect from the creative spirit she so reveres—far beyond what she could have imagined 85 years ago when she penned those profound words. And when it comes specifically to writing for “the enlargement of the soul,” her sorrow would likely be overwhelming, witnessing the dissolution of our craft by the rise of AI. Undoubtedly, she would lament the loss of richer, more authentic creative times, as many of us modern-day wordsmiths do.

Alas, I digress. (Sigh.)

A Must-Read for Every Creative Soul

Whether you are a budding writer or someone looking to (re)connect with their innate, but misplaced, creative spirit, I highly encourage you to reach backward and grab this soul-stirring book. I guarantee it will inspire you to do the damn thing already—whatever that damn thing is.

Cheers to keeping the creative spirit alive for all our lives!

Need more inspiration, guidance, or a partner in your creative journey? Our team at writegeist is here to help you bring your vision to life—one soul-stirring story at a time.