From the back cover: “This unique collection includes over fifty articles by more than thirty-five diverse American women who revisit, celebrate, and share defining moments in their lives. Readers will see the universal in milestones of body, mind, family, career, and personal empowerment—whether joyous or difficult, chosen or unexpected, common or rare. These are poignant passages of women, told by talented and award winning writers: intimate glimpses into the lives of our sisters, friends, aunts, mentors, wives, grandmothers, partners, mothers, daughters—ourselves.”

The subtitle implies that this book will offer ways to conquer what I expected to be writer’s/artist’s block. Rather than a lack of inspiration though, Pressfield defines “Resistance” as anything that keeps one from doing her work, as in what you were put on earth to do, what the still small voice inside of you knows is your life purpose.

“Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.”

This book is part pep talk, part kick in the ass. Most of us don’t have massage therapists to rub out the knots in our egos or coaches to push us to work harder, move faster, do more. Pressfield offers something better, in short chapters, direct and well-written prose, with the humor and insight of someone who has been there and already knows which excuse you’ll offer next. If you’re not writing, not writing enough, or in any other way having trouble doing your work, your real work–not necessarily what you’re being paid for– read this book.

Since the collection didn’t include much of my childhood reading–Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madeleine L’Engle or the myriad romance novels of my preteen years–many of the women authors I had read weren’t represented. Still, the ratios were disheartening. Assigned college reading and the canon I had felt a compulsion to conquer clearly favored men (surprise, surprise).

So, I assigned myself some reading. I started reading only women, unless someone highly recommended a book by a man. Once I was in graduate school, I had to read more men again, but I took women’s studies classes, literature surveys of women, autobiography of women. With all of that directed effort, I now have one full bookcase plus two shelves of titles by women–not even one fifth of the books we own.

So, last month when a note went around Facebook that included Feminista’s list of Top 100 Books by Women Authors, I expected to have read many of them. If I only count authors and not the actual titles from the list, I am up to 43. But of the titles themselves, I have read only 18. So I’ve given myself a new assignment: to read the list from top to bottom. I will not martyr myself. If I’m reading a book and hating it, I’ll put it down, but I’m reading the list. I’ve already put books on hold at the library. I’ll post my progress and maybe even some book reviews on the site from time to time.

How does your reading score on the list? Will you take my book challenge and start reading too?

I finally found a book that understands why I want to deviate from a schedule the minute I’ve created it. Instead of some complicated system that makes me feel even less organized, ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life offers practical advice that’s straightforward to implement — like giving yourself a bedtime. For someone who has struggled with mornings her entire life, this is way beyond practical.

Here’s my advice though, don’t read the book from cover to cover. I was totally overwhelmed by the end and there were way too many suggestions to remember, much less integrate. I’m starting the book over, and this time, I’m only reading until I get to something I want to try. Once I’ve made that practice a habit (or decided it won’t work for me), I’ll keep reading until I get to a new strategy.

So many of the writers I know struggle with some sort of time, paper, or thing management, even if you don’t have A.D.D, this book will benefit you. My husband is reading it and keeps saying, “I still don’t think I have A.D.D., but I’m going to try this….” Personally, I’m positive I have A.D.D. and I’m trying many of their methods. They’re helping.

View all my reviews

Natalie Goldberg

I went to see Natalie Goldberg in April when she was in Austin doing for a book signing for Old Friend from Far Away.  I was interested in hearing Natalie talk about her book on writing memoir for three reasons.

1. She’s one of my American idols. I started using Writing Down the Bones when I was a freshman in college. It not only gave me a writing practice, but it gave me permission to believe I was a writer, something I’d been both claiming and doubting since I was about ten.
2. Her book, Long Quiet Highway about how she created the writing practice in Bones and about her struggle to find her life’s work and to determine whether her path should be writing or Buddhism, is one of my favorite memoirs.
3. I have the draft of a memoir I wrote about my pregnancy and I’ve yet to achieve the distance or the energy to revise it. I was hoping that hearing Natalie talk about writing memoir might inspire me to go back to work on mine.

Here’s the thing: I’m at home with my 2 1/2 year old son Cavanaugh and I write (or do the business part of writing: submitting, creating author platform, looking for markets, etc.) while he takes naps and sometimes after he goes to sleep at night. He’s not in preschool yet. By the time my husband gets home from work, I have limited brain-power.

I keep wishing that I could just let the writing go for awhile. It doesn’t fit in right now. But it has never fit in. And that’s my problem. If I don’t write, I get jangly inside. I lose my center and I feel as if I have strayed far from my life’s path. When I do write, I go into a zone that excludes anything else and I get angry when I’m pulled out of that zone. The anger is not particularly advisable when a sweet little person who relies upon me wakes up and wants some attention.

So I went to Natalie so that she could answer a question I haven’t been able to answer for myself, so that she would tell me what to do. She didn’t.  I didn’t really expect that she would. I just hoped. Her humility, straightforward manner and refusal to mince words, and her calm honest presence helped anyway.  Just as her instruction to “Go for 10 minutes” freed me up as a freshman (you mean I don’t have to wake up at 5 a.m. everyday and write for nine hours straight to be a real writer?), I was reminded that maybe I don’t have the time or energy right now to write or revise the way I’d like, but it doesn’t mean I have to leave my life’s path altogether. I can just walk it, slowly, mindfully, accomplishing a little each day until I begin to reach some of my destinations.