Hello fellow writers and our hot summer in the UK continues. I thought I’d like to review a book which is useful for a practical project for you over the summer, as I know some of you love a holiday project…If it’s not holiday season where you are, then hopefully you will still find it useful.

This is a collection of writing which has inspired the philosopher and unitarian minister Robert Fulghum. It’s very male dominated, which is a shame, but he sections the book into different themes and these have annotations at the end of each one, explaining and justifying his choices.

In the full lesson, at lesson 58 of the Complete Freelance Writing Course you can hear how Hokusai wrote about his work, creator the The Giant Wave woodcut, and Robert Fulghum’s delightful take on this.

As a suggestion for a practical project to keep you inspired, I suggest you maybe create your own version of Words I Wish I Wrote, (words you wish you wrote), based on the writers that you love, admire and want to use as role models. Joan Didion for instance, championed the practice of copying out by hand, extracts from writers she most admired.

Your notebook on this theme can then become a pool of inspiration, a reminder of your writing ancestors and their values. However unique we like to feel our voice is as writers, we all drink from this pool, and it’s a helpful tool to remind us that we may not be as isolated or alone as we sometimes feel.