This chapter really made sense- someone needs to claim their writing. Why else write? What good is it to become completely disassociated with your writing? One who does that is a prostitute, pandering to their audience and killing their self. It's always nice to get compliments about something you create, and I think, at least on the inside, all of us dream about making something that will exist long after we are gone, but acceptance and adulation shouldn't be the sole reasons one is driven to write. Without getting to Fruedian I look at writing as a release of tension. Life is full of stressors and difficult situations and I guess it's important to find a way to deal with them. Some people drink, some people write. I guess I'm just one of those people who does both.
I also liked the chapter Trust Yourself. It's about....well... it's pretty self-explanatory. I was reading an article in Psychology the other day that said confidence is the most attractive personality trait that people look for in a mate, and I think it holds true as the most attractive attribute people look for in an author as well. Goldberg writes about being comfortable with what you write- I totally agree with that, it's like she read my mind when she wrote the book! Seriously though, if you aren't totally completely positively comfortable with expressing your innermost feelings then you won't be able to hone them into some sort of respectable craft. And no one likes to read something that's half-assed, especially if it's because the author is worried about being judged or some shit.
On a side note I've always found it funny that people read books about writing. It seems to be that if you want to be a better writer you'd read good books, not books about good books. Maybe that's counter-intuitive, but I feel like there is more I can learn from reading "For Whom The Bell Tolls" than someone telling me I need to trust myself. I like the information and I'm not saying it isn't good, but as a side-note, I would rather read something that has implicit value.
