The book (Writing with Power by Peter Elbow) I'm rereading now is one I found a few years back, when I was living in Helsinki, inconscpicuously shelved at a humanities library. It was on a shelf with such others as "Students must write" (nothing against the book, it's the name that bugs me). I instantly fell in love with its approach, and spent time copying the pages of the book since (I hadn't yet found the bookdepository) I wanted to have them as reference.
A while back I remembered this book again and promptly ordered it. Now as I think about the blog and what I have to express - especially 2 days ago I had the sense that there is a lot in me but I don't quite know what it is - I use Elbow's techniques. He suggests just embarking on "freewriting", setting the timer for 10 minutes or more and starting to write, no matter how fuzzy the topic. The point is just to "lose sight of the shore", to come up with new ideas and perspectives you didn't quite knew you had, by writing. Then after all you can come back, pick up your fantastic ideas, probably also some very alive writing, and evaluate what you really want to express.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants to or needs to write. Especially if you consider writing difficult, scary or boring, this book is for you! For me doing freewriting is both fun and very liberating. Two days ago when I wrote I remembered again how powerful (hence the name?) this kind of writing is. Yesterday I read that text and was surprised by its clarity and quality; I couldn't have imagined to have been able to express exactly so many things that I had in my mind in a complete jumble! That writing hasn't come out as a post yet; there are many posts in there and I'm really wondering about how to use this blog. I guess that the route will carve itself out when I just dare to post things (such as this recommendation, thing that to me seem like they lack something. But Elbow's book really is a wonderful one.) Expressing who I really am to others is new to me. But something I'm learning fast, not least of all due to Elbow's book.
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