One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for WritersBased on the Zen philosophy that we learn more from our failures than from our successes, One Continuous Mistake teaches a refreshing new method for writing as spiritual practice. In this unique guide for writers of all levels, Gail Sher—a poet who is also a widely respected teacher of creative writing—combines the inspirational value of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way with the spiritual focus of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Here she introduces a method of discipline that applies specific Zen practices to enhance and clarify creative work. She also discusses bodily postures that support writing, how to set up the appropriate writing regimen, and how to discover one's own "learning personality." In the tradition of such classics as Writing Down the Bones and If You Want to Write, One Continuous Mistake will help beginning writers gain access to their creative capabilities while serving as a perennial reference that working writers can turn to again and again for inspiration and direction. |
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activity artist BEAUTY PLUS PITY becomes beginning writer body Brian Boyd Buddha cadence consciousness create daily writing periods day after day distractions environment everything example experience fear feedback feel fleeting thoughts Gary Snyder Gertrude Gertrude Stein haiku happens Henry David Thoreau inner intention INVISIBLE PRACTICE Issan Dorsey Japanese kinhin Lama language LESSON OF LITTLE listen LITTLE RED RIDING look means meditation mind nature never notebook one’s writing pain Paramahansa Yogananda Penguin Books perhaps person Pillar PING poem poet poetry rain Ralph Waldo Emerson reader reading RED RIDING HOOD regular daily writing relationship RIPPLES Roshi sangha sense sentence Shunryu Suzuki-roshi silence skill sounds spiritual stay story Suzuki-roshi T.S. Eliot there’s things Tibetan truth Virginia Woolf Vladimir Nabokov voice Wang Wei word write to Penguin writer’s anorexia Writer’s block writing habit writing parents writing practice