Seven Steps on the Writer's Path
Nancy Pickard & Lynn Lott
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Ballantine Books
ISBN: 034545524X

Nancy Pickard is featured in Authors & Books.

Lynn Lott is featured in Authors & Books.

The Journey from Frustration to Fulfillment.

Drawing from their own experiences as writers, as well from scores of colleagues, these two multi-published & successful authors map out an easy-to-follow path to creative success, rich with insights into who you are as a writer, ideas on how to pace yourself, wry humor to laugh in the face of adversity, & epiphanies galore!

I like the layout of Seven Steps on the Writer's Path: frequently quoting from John Wesley Powell's 1869 diary of his awesome first trip Down the Colorado. Nancy Pickard & Lynn Lott get us thinking about the actual process of writing as if it were a journey rather than a destination -- what writing is & what it is not, letting us see the darkness & the shadows as well as the light & the fantastic to this solitary craft.

Step One is an exploration of Unhappiness, in which Nancy Pickard & Lynn Lott share the two year process of their coming together to write this book. It is about the many ways the creative process manifests itself. “We live in a smiley-face culture that tells us that all we need is one more affirmation, an exercise class, or a pill, and then everything will be hunky-dory. But that's not the “culture” in which a writer lives.” (P.13)

Step Two is the Wanting. It is what got us here, & gets us writing each day. What is wanting & what really is procrastination? What does the mouth say that the body ignores? Who among us has not said: “I just want to write!” & then taken off for a faraway festival or re–modeled a huge home or organized a reunion of biblical proportions? & what does “jealousy, envy, insecurity & self-pity” have to do with it?

Step Three: Have you ever wanted something with all your heart? Then Commitment is the setting off into the unknown. Whether you're a single scribbler at a laptop or one of many writers at a retreat, it is the doing that will satiate that wanting which will bring about epiphanies & exhilaration.

Step Four: Wavering -- “To be or not to be...” (William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Act 3. Sc.1) Here lurk all the doubts & fears you'll ever encounter at your keyboard. Filled with the thrill of adventure, suddenly the Cosmos starts slapping you down -- a famous writer denegrates your efforts; a teacher gives you an F; a fellow scribbler pans what your words...& so you waver, quit writing, paralyzed with doubts -- at your ability, of your story. How to recognize this wavering, &, more importantly, how to work your way through it, is the substance of this painful & depressing phase. & it too shall pass!

Step Five: Letting Go -- “You've worked hard to get to this point, and now you have the skills and confidence to go for it. You're a writer seated in front of an empty page...” (P.136) Let it rip!

Step Six: Immersion -- here be the payoff, when time dissolves, when food & friends vanish & when the writing is all there is & all you need to sustain you. What bliss!

Step Seven: Fulfillment cometh on wings of having done the grunt work -- the blood, tears & sweat of the re-writes, corrections, executions & re-arrangements; polishing each & every word until the whole shines so much that others will see the glow in your words & boast about discovering you!

What I also like about this elegant & joyful workbook are the quotations, many from bestselling authors past & present, as well as from authors I turned Lynn Lott onto after she had sent me an SOS early in her gathering for the Seven Steps on the Writer's Path:-
Nina Osier of Interphase & Solitude
Norm Harris of Fruit of a Poisonous Tree
Steve Dixon of The Hawaiian Voyages Of The Ono Jimmy
Eva McCall of Edge of Heaven
Judy Goldman of The Slow Way Back

I now have an understanding of the phases I've been going through while working on my writing. Rather than bossing me about, or admonishing me to get hold of my bootstraps & tough it out, you have shown me that the process of writing is both organic & chartable. I can now recognize the dragons of despair, the dead ends of vanity, & the detours of creativity.

I especially relish both voices & their vivacity. The stories of the process are fascinating. The tools offered usable. The encouragement tangible. As I write in solitude, I now know I am not alone. Much gratitude for the illumination.

Nancy Pickard is the recipient of the Agatha, Macavity, American Mystery, Anthony, & Shamus awards & is a three-time Edgar nominee. She is a former reporter & editor & has been a past president of Sisters in Crime. She is the creator of the acclaimed Jenny Cain mysteries: Dead Crazy etc.
Eugenia Potter mysteries: The Blue Corn Murders etc.
Marie Lightfoot mysteries: The Truth Hurts The Whole Truth, Ring of Truth
The FIRST LADY MURDERS
Storm Warnings: a collection of hair-raising stories & many more books!

Lynn Lott presents family-therapy workshops, & is the co-author of the successful Positive Discipline A–Z series, as well as Do-It-Yourself Therapy & Chores Without Wars.


(08/10/03)

Rebecca