For most, the hardest part of writing is overcoming the mountain of self-denial that weighs upon the spirit, always threatening to extinguish those first small embers of ambition. Brenda Ueland, a writer and teacher, devotes most of her book--published back in 1938, before everyone and their goldfish got their MFA"s in creative writing--to these matters of the writer"s heart. Still, the real gift of the book is Ueland herself: She liked to write, she didn"t care what anyone thought, and she had a great sense of humor. You"re simply happy to hang out with her.