The Courage to Write; How Writers Transcend Fear

by Ralph Keyes

• ISBN13: 9780805031898
• ISBN10: 0805031898
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1996-05-15
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

Katherine Anne Porter called courage "the first essential" for a writer. "I have to talk myself into bravery with every sentence," agreed Cynthia Ozick, "sometimes every syllable." E. B. White said he admired anyone who "has the guts to write anything at all."An author who has taught writing for more than thirty years, Ralph Keyes assures readers that anxiety is felt by writers at every level and can be harnessed to produce honest and disciplined work., Keyes offers specifics on how to make the best use of writers' workshops and conferences and how to handle criticism of works in progress; he also exposes the most common "false fear busters" (needing new equipment, a better setting, a new agent). Throughout, he includes the comments of many accomplished writers--Pat Conroy, Amy Tan, Rita Dove, Isabel Allende, and others--on how they transcended their own anxieties to produce great works.

Author Biography

Ralph Keyes is the co-author of Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: Managing Innovation in a Changing Economy. His ten other books include The Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde, and The Wit and Wisdom of Harry Truman.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
The Elements of Courage
Writing as an Act of Courage	p. 3
Points of Courage	p. 16
Will Everyone See Through Me?	p. 38
The Devil in the Inkstand	p. 64
Coming to Terms with Fear
Finessing Fear	p. 93
Putting Fear to Work	p. 120
Should You Write in the Nude?	p. 141
A Little Help from Friends	p. 165
The Courageous Writer	p. 187
Notes
Selected Bibliography
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