Word Work: Surviving and Thriving As a Writer Book

Combining sympathy with practical advice, this guide enables writers to overcome mental and spiritual battles to get words on a page. Anecdotes from established authors, psychological theory, and hands-on exercises help writers understand and move beyond writer’s block. Topics include preventing procrastination, generating inspiration, staying passionate, targeting long-term happiness, the role of relationships, and dealing with both rejection and success. This sound advice will give any writer, beginner or professional, a road map to greater productivity, confidence, and satisfaction.

Library Journal

Here is another manual for writers by a fiction instructor and published author who has given serious thought to the vocation. Written mostly in the first person, the text offers anecdotal advice and practical suggestions addressing the "affective" needs of writers. Rogers provides insights into that monster called "writer's block" and the guilt associated with procrastination and shows how such traditional enemies of the writer can be allies. In personal chapters on invention, inspiration, and the place and circumstances of his work, Rogers explores his relationship with his own writing. The chapters on the hazards and benefits of writing workshops as well as those on the value of writing "buddies" are particularly insightful. Readers looking for guidance on bettering their craft or on the practicalities of publishing and marketing their work may be disappointed. Those who appreciate the honest reflections of a practicing and thoughtful writer will value the opportunity to listen in. Herbert E. Shapiro, SUNY Empire State Coll., Rochester Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.