The Mindful Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life by Dinty W Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I truly enjoyed this quick read. The Mindful Writer was full of gems—advice on how to best approach the writing life. I found myself highlighting passages from almost each little chapter. I thought of myself and writer friends as I was reading. For example, the friend who struggles with perfecting sentences as she writes, the friend who struggles with telling the truth, the friend who lacks confidence in her talent. I plan to share passages with them and will suggest that they get their own copy.

As I am nearing a final revision of my memoir, many of the chapters struck a chord with me because they are issues I have recently struggled with or remembering struggling with when I first began my manuscript. Part of me wishes I had this book on hand when I first started to seriously approach creative writing (12 years ago already!). But part of me knows that it probably wouldn’t have sunk in anyway until I had gone through an entire book-writing process myself. Still, I would recommend this book to beginning writers. All of the advice may not “gel” at that stage, but at least it would get novice writers thinking about some of these important concepts. I also recommend it to people who have been writing for years. A lot of advice may seem familiar, but it’s always worth hearing again.

This is a very serious little book. My only criticism is that at times it’s a little too serious. Writing is important to writers—yes. I myself could never NOT write. But in the grand scheme of things, I don’t view what I do as very important. I am not saving lives or helping others or really making a difference in the world through my writing. At times it seems that Moore attaches a little too much importance to this work that writers are called to do.

Overall, though, I will go back to this book anytime I need a pick-me-up. Surely I will, because the writing life is filled with ups and downs.

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Read this great conversation John Warner has with Dinty W. Moore regarding Dinty’s new book, The Mindful Writer. I especially like the last question that has to do with non-attachment and relinquishing control.

“Control” in my writing life is something I finally defined a few months ago. I actually took a break from writing over the winter because I was getting frustrated with the aspect of control once you actually finish a project. As John and Dinty point out, once you finish a manuscript, it’s out of your hands. You shop around for an agent or an editor, but you can’t force anyone to take you on. For the anal-retentive among us, this is a frightening prospect.

Instead of writing, I focused on aspects of my life I could control. I’ve always found a lot of satisfaction in my career as a university instructor and administrator, and I realized this is because I can control the work I do and how I do it. I can choose to be a good worker and employee, and I am. I also realized control is why I enjoy running marathons and completing triathlons. I print out a training schedule, I do what it says, and come race day, I’m prepared. I’ve controlled the process from beginning to end. With writing, I can only control the process at the beginning. Once my writing is as good as I can make it, luck and timing take over. I’m still not comfortable with that. But thanks, Dinty, for your perspective.