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ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING <i> by Ray Bradbury (Joshua Odell Editions/Capra Press: $18.95, cloth; $8.95, paper; 152 pp.) </i>

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At first glance, Ray Bradbury’s collected thoughts on writing would seem to fit in with the slew of books purporting to teach people to put words on paper (and get them published). “Zen in the Art of Writing,” however, is purely and simply Bradbury’s love song to his craft. Written over a period of 30 years, these essays contain plenty of practical tips from the prolific writer, who says he wrote at least 1,000 words a day from age 12 on. But the only real directive here is to love the act of writing, and to love it passionately.

Here are classic struggling-artist stories. Bradbury describes the tears that streamed down his face when he knew he had written his first good story, “The Lake.” His editor at the time reluctantly paid him $20 for it and extracted a promise that he would go back to writing “good old-fashioned ghost stories.”

Bradbury can be self-aggrandizing, even in praising the impersonal wellsprings of creativity: “How is it that the boy I was in October, 1929, could, because of the criticism of his fourth-grade schoolmates, tear up his Buck Rogers comic strips and a month later judge all of his friends idiots and rush back to collecting? Where did that judgment and strength come from?” But the sheer exuberance of Bradbury’s words wins out. Where other teachers say, “Don’t be afraid to cut and rewrite,” Bradbury says: “The history of each story should read like a weather report: Hot today, cool tomorrow. This afternoon, burn down the house. Tomorrow, pour cold critical water upon the simmering coals.”

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