A Writer's Time: A Guide to the Creative Process |
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| Reprinted from Biology
Books ...Atchity will teach you how to get time on your side through mastering some very basic skills. The secret here is getting to know your brain and familiarize yourself with all the tricks.....This book is part inspiration, part how-to, part common sense and part unique insight from Atchity's experience writing, teaching and producing. ...even if you disregard his suggestions, hang onto this book, if only for its enthusiasm -- it's hard to come by from veterans in this business. As Atchity says, "Writing is a craft. A craft not only can be learned, it MUST be learned." In every paragraph, his confidence shines through that not only can you do it, but that you will. Atchity is no ra-ra cheerleader -- he knows what he's talking about. He's created many successful writers before, and he wants to help the magic work for you. Get him in your corner if you can. "A Writer's Time: Making the Time to Write" was just what I was looking for as I begin a second career as writer. This book explains how I can best organize my time to combat writer's block and eliminate wasted time. It also helped me get over the 'how do I publish it now that I've finished it?' problem. A Writer's Time: A Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision (W. W. Norton & Co.. Book of the Month Club. Quality Paperback, etc., called by The New York Times: "The best recent book on writing."). art. the best recent book on writing. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times inspires and guides us to create time to be creative. --Josephine Hart, author. Damage, Sin Ken Atchity in A Writer's Time opens the way to a new -- a more productive -- experience of writing. Just learning how to transform anxiety into creative energy is worth the read. Carole Isenberg, writer-producer, executive producer, The Women of Brewster Place Ken Atchity in A Writer's Time opens the way to a new -- a more productive -- experience of writing. Just learning how to transform anxiety into creative energy is worth the read. Carole Isenberg, writer-producer, executive producer, The Women of Brewster Place A Writer's Time may be addressed to writers, but it talks to everyone. When we learn to command time, anxiety diminishes and we find what we seek: success, peace, and contentment. The author encourages us to dream, to fantasize, and then clearly describes how and when to turn the mind's pictures into creative reality. Frances Halpern, columnist, Los Angeles Herald Examiner In this excellent, inspiring and illuminating book, Atchity demonstrates that much of the writer's craft, so often regarded as purely magical, can be put under the writer's control. Linda Seger, author, Making A Good Script Great I spent a couple of hours with AWT over the weekend...I resist self-help and have discipline (more discipline than talent)...But of its type, it reads extremely well--lucid, logical, educational, in the good sense... Art Seidenbaum (Book Editor, The Los Angeles Times) ...the best book on writing! --Francesca Stanfill, author Wakefield Hall (New York) Kenneth Atchity has a deep understanding of the creative process. He shows the reader how to take advantage of the extraordinary author/editor process that operates in the unconscious mind of every one of us. Gayle Delaney, author of Living Your Dreams A Writer's Time strikes a beautiful balance between conscious and unconscious problems, between ambiance and function, between the artistic and the technical, between the requirements of creativity and the requirements of marketing. Kenneth Atchity takes his own advice. His writing is crisp and clear. His advice moves logically and gracefully from the page to the mind of the reader. Norman Cousins, author Anatomy of an Illness and The Healing Heart Commonsense organizational principles and unconventional notions of time management are combined here in an exhilarating book. After reading it, there's no excuse. You're going to have to write! Carolyn See, novelist and contributing book reviewer, The Washington Post If I were Santa Claus, I'd put this book into the stocking of everyone who wants to be a published writer. Ken Atchity quickly pushes aside all the stupid excuses favored by cocktail-party poseurs who want merely to be thought of as writers and gets right down to truths of what it takes to write successfully. --Paul Gillette (L.A.) Thanks to Kenneth Atchity's lucid, invaluable book, the blank sheet of paper--that impassable barrier--need stare at us no more. --Robin Hardy, author of The Wicker Man Thank you for A Writer's Time. The title alone sold me on the book; the New York Times cover blurb calling it "the best recent book on writing" was the kicker. I've been writing for various kinds of publications for well over 25 years now, and I thought I had things pretty well figured out. But many of the concepts you share - especially that of the islands, the Continent and the Managing Editor offered me a new way of looking at ongoing challenges, a fresh take on reality, and will, I know, become helpful tools in my own creativity kit ....A Writer's Time has already been a true gift and blessing. For the inspiration and advice it offers, of course but also because...it takes me back to a time (a "writer's time") when my days weren't quite so full of noise and clatter, and writing from the heart was all I ever wanted to do. Thanks so much for helping to awaken my heart again. Marilyn B. Boess (Glendale, AZ) Your book has been invaluable to me and I've recommended it several times to authors. Lew Grimes, Lew Grimes Literary Agency (New York) Congratulations on the new book. And congratulations on half of Lehmann-Haupt's review. It's an important book, the need for which is obvious. Dennis Britton, Deputy Managing Editor, The Los Angeles Times This is just a note of appreciation for your book. It has been variously a crutch, an inspiration, and a guide. It helped me write a local best seller and I've given copies to friends. My edition (1986) is coffee-stained and worn at the corners. It's a good friend. Barry J. Lazar (Montreal, Canada) I started reading it almost immediately and, like Sam Goldwyn, I read part of it all the way through (I got this from Chapter 10, aptly entitled "Inspiration"). It's a fascinating book and really practical for anybody, like some people I know, who seriously want to be writers. I know that it will be high on my "highly recommended" list. Sol Steinmetz, Editorial Director, Random House Reference Publishing (NY) Last week I read A Writer's Time. I've read many wonderful books about writing, but something about yours jumped out and struck me deep inside. Since then, I've put maybe 20 hours into re-thinking the 400+ page (first) novel that I've been fooling around with since 1991. Your inspiring ideas led me to some potentially devastating realizations: For example, in all these years I've never had the brains to see why I need to know the hearts and souls of my main characters nor did I ever bother to figure out the substance of the middleground that must have tripped me up fifty times. I just didn't think deeply enough about the project. I'm sure I'm not the first. Anyway, I've decided to library the whole ms. and start from scratch, building a rock-solid foundation this time. All is not lost. I still like my characters, but I don't like the situations I've created for them. I'm going to get more involved in their histories and lives, and put them into a new story. Spending three years and hundreds and hundreds of hours working on Material Instinct (my novel) gave me the experience required to be receptive to your ideas. When I read A Writer's Time, tiny speaks crackle in the air around my head. Being able to absorb the book's wisdom was the reward for all my effort. I'm grateful. Frank Freudberg (Narbeth, PA) Just wanted to say I've now acquired and read...A Writer's Time...as I have a real problem organizing my work my time, my feelings. I find your suggestions most helpful as you do more than many teachers: You seem to understand the emotional idiosyncracies of those of us who are trying to create. Thank you, Kenneth Atchity, for your useful book, which goes on my shelf next to John Gardner, Dorothea Brande, Lajos Egri, Uzzell and others. Shirley Frodsham (New Orleans, LA) Two plus months later...I've gotten A Writer's Timeand what a joy! As I read, immersed in its pithiness, its clear-headed objectivity, its humanity - it's almost as tho' I were hearing your voice once again and feeling the power you have to mediate struggling creativities...it's the one supremely useful book on writing that I've seen. and I've seen a few...'A Writer's Time' is a splendid book superb accomplishment technically informative. inspirational communicates the deep significance and urgency of the human need to share the experience of life... Carole Holmes (Tacoma, WA) What a feather artist you are sometimes. You can humanize others' desires and neutralize their doubts. As you did for me. I'll always worry about my writing, but not with the same intensity. I can't let the worry impede the writing. Nor can I let the anger or the hurt or the pride. Writing is the thing in itself, a sort of DING AN SICH experience. Thank you. Nan Wigington (Northglenn, CO) I read and liked A Writer's Time very much...I look forward to taking any seminars/courses you may give as well as finding out if you do private consultations. Dan E. Dunne (Clinical Psychologist, Torrance, CA) I really like what you have to say about fiction, and even hope that you'll give us more. As to the whole book, you know that I've already adapted some of the suggestions for my own writers who are stuck in one way or another. What better recommendation? What's more, I'm having a lot of fun working on this book. Carol Houck Smith, Vice President, Editor, W. W. Norton (New York) Your book is wonderful! Joseph and Delila Bottoms (Hollywood, CA) I've been enjoying A Writer's Time. My friend, who is recuperating from being shot, said that he has found his copy to be particularly useful. He is a very good writer, but has had a significant problem with procrastination. Thanks again for your interest in my writing. Jimmie H. Butler, author Red Lightning Black Thunder and A Certain Brotherhood (Colorado Springs) I wrote you last year thanking you for writing A Writer's Time, sharing with you how your book rekindled my love for writing and my determination to write a biography that had long been on my mind. I have finished part one of that two part biography and I'm sending you five sample chapters just to show you what your book has inspired. Do you know what part of A Writer's Time has helped me more than any other? This might surprise you. On page 6 you wrote: "You begin with a decision. Almost any decision will do. You decide today, for example, 'Tomorrow I'm going to write, 'Mary walked down the street and never came back.'"...I think about this so many times when I sit down to write. It takes away the tension. I think, "Mary walked down the street...sure, just write the first thing that comes to mind about my subject and let the argument inside my head begin. Something better will come along."... Owen Jorgensen (Coulee City, WA) I'm writing simply to declare myself your ardent fan. First your Homer book pleased me with its elegance and defiance of pedantry. Now your more recent Writer's Time has taken over part of my self-understanding as I go about my work. Your discussion of how to make anxiety productive has changed the way I live and feel about my work for the better, I find. Bravo!...Once again, please accept my heartfelt thanks for your thoughts in Writer's Time. It is a beacon on rough seas. You deserve a blissful vacation or two! Michael Heim (Redondo Beach, California) Congratulations on A Writer's Time! It's magnificent. Your warm and enthusiastic invitation into a writer's life flows right from you, off the pages and into the reader's mind. Thank you for speaking to me and encouraging my success for, indeed, reading your words is like hearing your voice. Patti (Wilson) Brugman I probably told you how really good I think your book is. I've already recommended it to several would-be writers, providing them with order sheets. I mean I'm not about to lend my copy. If they want to read it, let them shell out. It's kind of a built in barometer measuring true commitment, isn't it? If they don't persevere with your clearly written guidelines, the hell with them. It can be enjoyed on more levels than one, of course, and I especially loved the quote from Dante which I typed up and tacked to my study wall. Arlene Stadt (Los Angeles) Tom and I are both enjoying your book and getting a lot out of it as well. Congratulations on its being picked up by BOMC...Since I'm currently wrestling with my own book, my first, due to Morrow April 1 (It will be late)yours was especially timely. Sandy Sheehy (Houston) I have just finished reading, and enjoying a great deal, your book...I found what you had to say to be of considerable interest as I consider my next book. Thank you for taking the time to write this book... D. M. Wilmot, M.D. (Toronto) I am delighted to see that your book has been chosen for the Book of the Month Club and the Writer's Digest Book Club. I have read it...and enjoyed both the information it provided on the obstacles writers face (which I had not realized previously) and the encouragement it gives (which anyone can benefit from)... Patricia Robinson, University of Houston I am writing to express my appreciation of your book A Writer's Time; A Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision through Revision. I attended your seminar at UCLA on February 7th and found it (and your book) to be practical, supportive, and very enlightening. Your work has provided me with a glimpse of understanding of my own processes in writing and living and that "glimpse" is invaluable! Thank you for your insights and service. Linda S. Dakin (Los Angeles) Very much enjoyed your seminar. Your talk and book explained what I knew intuitively & discovered through trial & error in my writing. While reading "A Writer's Time" I found myself crying out loud, "That's right!" a lot. Karin Anderson (Hollywood) Gayle Delaney of the Institute faculty has given me a copy of your book, A Writer's Time...I want to express my gratitude...I know that your work will be useful to our students and faculty members for a number of their projects, since the field of creative process is one which interests many persons at the school. Vern Haddick (Library Director, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco) A few weeks ago I bought a copy of A Writer's Time and proceeded to spend some time with it. I was not disappointed. In my opinion, your advice is sound and useful. Shortly after reading your book, while flying to Tokyo I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which reinforced the truth of your observation on the genesis of good writing. I am sure that your book will take its place as a required part of a writer's library, next to Roget and Strunk and White. Rich Turner I wanted to thank you for the advice I received from your book...I think it was just marvelously put with the imagery of the islands. I thought your section on publishing time was a very necessary chapter in the book and a must read for all students. The quotes were an excellent collection, particularly the one by Carlos Castaneda, which spurred me to mass-produce as I do now. I want to thank you because you have really pushed my career in writing to a productive one and you have made me streamline my style to a sellable quality. Greg Van Zuyen When we spoke about Homer Saturday at your class you said that when you shook hands with Richmond Lattimore you felt that was as close you would ever stand to Homer. I shivered when you said that. Ten years ago I discovered Homer and Lattimore together when I took Lattimore's Odyssey on a vacation to Baja California. While all my cronies were sailing Hobie cats and Windsurfers I sat on the beach, cooked away in the sun, and never looked up from the book. That day I entered a new world. Later I discovered Cedric Whitman's book on Sophocles, and read those plays with Dr. Whitman as my guide. Last month when I bought "A Writer's Time" I learned of your book "Homer's Iliad: The Shield of Memory." I ordered this book from my store, and now I'm almost like an excited kid knowing he'll have chocolate cake every night this winter. This winter I'll read again The Iliad with Richmond Lattimore and you will be my guide. Carolyn See suggested your seminar to me. The time Saturday went by to quickly. Thank you. Ed Austin (Malibu) I have read A Writer's Time and welcomed the practical approach to writing. Gale L. Raasch (Highland Park, Illinois) Your work will be useful to our students and faculty members for a number of their projects, since the field of creative process is one which interests many persons at the school. Vern Haddick (California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco) I enjoyed reading it the style was very engaging and straightforward and the application of time management techniques to writing was brilliant. Linda Venis, UCLA Writers Program (Los Angeles) Just got your book WRITER'S TIME from QPBC and am loving every word...I like your stuff on character best. Bob Ray (Irvine) Your book, A WRITER'S TIME, sat upon my shelf for some time after I purchased it along with a number of others. Then I casually scanned it one morning. That was several months ago and I haven't put it down since. It has become my constant resource companion. No other book has ever explained my writing self to me as yours has. Since adopting your methods, I've leaped from being just a dabbler to being a professional. After my rejects became my "library," I was able to become quite objective. I began rewriting and resending them and I can't really explain how my subsequent successes occurred. I have sold two educational children's books through your query and proposal system, two articles, one story, and a well-seasoned agent happened upon my picture-book manuscripts a nd now represents me. All this in only six months! Your book certainly was a guide to my creative process from vision through revision. I really can't thank you enough. Betty Lacey (San Luis Obispo) What is most striking about the book is that Atchity takes his own advice. The writing is crisp and clear. The reader is never left to ponder the writer's purpose or meaning. Advice moves logically and gracefully from the page to the mind of the reader. What distinguishes A Writer's Time from most books or teaching courses dealing with this elusive subject is that it strikes a beautiful balance between conscious and subconscious problems, between ambiance and function, between the artistic and the technical, between the requirements of creativity and the requirements of marketing. Atchity doesn't completely solve the ultimate problem confronting the writer how to get a serious reading for an unpublished manuscript but he at least reduces the heavy negative odds by describing the state of mind of the editor, who, if only out of his own survival needs, has developed conditioned reflexes for spotting unprofessional characteristics in the manuscripts piled up on his desk. Norman Cousins (Los Angeles) Congratulations on the review of A Writer's Time in The New York times. I wish you great success with the book. David J. Danelski, Dean of the Faculty, Occidental College (Los Angeles) |
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