Thumb Your Nose

I'm looking at two photographs of Brenda Ueland,  author of If You Want to Write, one taken in 1938 and the other in 1983, when she was ninety-one, and the latter photograph is scary-awful.  Note to self:  no photographs after eighty.  I picked up the book last evening and remembered what a charming, supportive spirit she is.  Chapter seven is titled, "Be careless, reckless!  Be a lion, be a pirate when you write" and chapter ten, "Why Women who do too much housework should neglect it for their writing."

I see you can get a used copy for $4.50 at Powell's Books in Portland, the best new and used bookstore on the planet.

Here's what Brenda Ueland says on page nine:

"And so now you will begin to work at your writing.  Remember these things.  Work with all your intelligence and love.  Work freely and rollickingly as though they were talking to a friend who loves you.  Mentally (at least three or four times a day) thumb your nose at all know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, doubters."