Barzun's writing about writing has been invaluable to me. I have this collection of essays called Jacques Barzun on Writing, Editing, and Publishing, and it contains some wonderful stuff -- humane, real, and helpful. Stuff like this, from the essay "A Writer's Discipline":
To know how to begin, then, is the great art -- no very profound maxim -- but since in any extended piece of work one must begin many times, this is the art which it is essential to master. There is only one way: to study one's needs and quirks, and circumvent one's tricks for escape.
...I believe in humoring to the greatest extent the timid and stubborn censor which stops work on flimsy pretenses. Grant, by all means, its falsely innocent preferences as to paper, ink, furnishings, and quash its grievances forever.
...suspect all out-of-the-way or elaborate preparations. You don't have to sharpen your pencils or sort out paper clips before you begin -- unless it be your regular warming up. Give yourself no quarter when the temptation strikes, but grab a pen and put down some words -- your name even -- and a title: something to see, to revise, to carve, to do over in the opposite way. And here comes the advantage of developing a fixation on blue tinted paper. When you have fought and won two or three bloody battles with the insane urge to clean the whole house before making a start, the sight of your favorite implements will speak irresistibly of victory, of accomplishment, of writing done
It sounds odd and melodramatic to me now to say this, but when I first read that essay, I felt like it saved m life. I will always have a spot for Barzun on my panel of invisible mentors.
David R.
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