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Wynelda-Ann Shelton

Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True

Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True
By Elizabeth Berg
Harper Perennial, © 1999
ISBN 0-06-092929-4
$12.00 USD, $18.50 Canada

Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg is one of the few writing books that I read straight through, then went back and reread the entire book with highlighter in hand. And yes, I defaced some of the pages with that yellow highlighter. I wanted to make sure that I could come back and revisit, quickly, some of my favorite things about the book.

One of my favorite things, and one of the first to be highlighted, is the section in which Berg talks about the pride a writer should have:

Listen to me. You need to be a home for yourself and your work. You need to be the safe place to present things to be admired and loved. Never mind what anyone else has to say about your work, be it good or bad. Know that it’s necessary that you love your work, and let yourself do that. Relish what you are doing; whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of the outer world has nothing to do with the fact that you are answering a calling and making art as best you can.” (Page 35)

Love your work. It seems so easy, and yet can be hard to do. I’ve often had self-doubt twisting my fingers and making my words come out all wrong. Is it good enough? Will anyone get it? Maybe it has too much cursing. Maybe there’s not enough sex. This plot has been done to death. The questions plague me even though I know that when I let myself fly, when I really enjoy writing, it shows.

There’s a lesson in there somewhere. As Berg herself says, “You have to take a deep breath, let go of your usual control, and then begin walking in the dark.” (Page 104)

Be confident enough to walk in the dark. Be confident enough to love your work and stand by it.

But above all, be confident enough to keep writing.

No matter what.