For both myself and my writing students, I maintain a list of recommended books on process. I'm a voracious reader but it has been a long Gobi Desert of a time since I've read anything to add to this list. Today, with a big fat star, I add The Art of Asking. And not because the book is about asking— and "taking the donuts," as Palmer puts it— indeed, something for which most writers, and especially women writers, need some coaching— but because what it's really about is the meaning and the reality of being a true artist.
That the true artist is a kind of shaman—we forget this in the noise, shiny plastic, and conformity of industrial culture. Remembering it is a profound gift.
P.S. Watch Amada Palmer singing the "Ukelele Anthem" and giving her famous TED talk.
More anon.
