BOOK REVIEW

Writing With Power
Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process
By Peter Elbow
P 320.25

A classic handbook for anyone who needs to write, Writing With Power speaks to everyone who has wrestled with words while seeking to gain power with them. Here, Peter Elbow emphasizes that the essential activities underlying good writing and the essential exercises promoting it are all not really that difficult.

The book shows writers and would-be writers how to reduce the frustrations of writing by harnessing the two opposite mentalities that are required: a creative, accepting, open, imaginative, yea-saying mentality; and a tough, critical, logical, nay-say mentality. Elbow shows how to celebrate the uses of mystery, chaos, and non-planning - and yet still exert conscious care and control over the writing process.