Rick Rubin for writers

If you don’t know who Rick Rubin is, don’t feel too bad. If you click on his name, you’ll find the link to his bio on Encyclopedia Brittanica. So, there you go.

I bought his book. Not the one in the photo above. That is from the library, hence all the mini sticky notes. It is obvious that the book resonates with me. It does mostly because it confirms so much of what I have experienced and recognized the past years while writing novels.

The Rick Rubin books is entitled, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. When I said I bought it, the hardback copy, I bought it for my son, who creates painting, choosing to use his mental energy that way.

I use my mental energy in lots of ways, as we all do. However, I set the intention to use a lot of my mental energy, my mind’s sustained intention and attention, my mind blood, if you will, to write.

Rick Rubin is right

The Rick Rubin book is about creating, not just writing, which is why it worked to buy it for my son, who paints.

What I’m getting at is that there are so many ways to be creative. And we are all creators. But since my blog is about writing mostly, I felt like taking a few Rubin wisdoms and focus them on writing, or at least how I experience it.  Let me direct some intention and attention to creating those below. Let me pick a few sticky notes…

Am I right, too? Not that I care

And here you go:

“The work is done when you feel it is.“-   A confirmation on the pointlessness of word count as a measurement of achieving anything in writing.

“Hanging on to your work is like spending years writing the same entry in a diary.”-  This is why it is a good practice to write some every day, and release it the next.

“A dedication to the practice of showing up on regular basis is the main requirement.- The creative process is found in and born from the grunt work.

“Not all projects take time, but they do take a lifetime.”- The journey is the reward. The writing is in the rewriting, the discovery of what you learn about yourself from your own words.

“Demanding to control a work of art would be just as foolish as demanding that a oak tree grow according to your will.”- There is great joy in acceptance.

Five sticky notes down, a hundred more to go.

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