365
Tips for Writers
Inspiration,
Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to Turbocharge Your Creativity
By
Dawn Colclasure
Call
Them Tips if You Want To
A Small Book of Advice (and Counsel) for Writers
365 Tips for Writers: Writing Prompts and
Beat the Block Tips to Turbocharge Your Creativity by Dawn
Colclasure benefits from the author’s experience as a poet.
A poet must know something about inspiration and Dawn has been inspired
enough to write two chapbooks, Take My Hand and Topiary
Dreams.
Coclosure
not only knows something of inspiration, she also knows the value
of brevity. 365 Tips is more a book of advice than tips. Nevertheless,
the word “tips” works because each is so short and very
sweet. She uses few words to say much. This too, is so like a poet.
With
a foreword written by the promotion guru of Web-fame, Peter Bowerman,
this little volume gets off to the right start by providing the
reader with sound credibility. Bowerman is taken with the variety
of tips in this book as he well should be. There is no subject that
Colclasure doesn’t cover. Everything from writing dialogue
to what she calls BEAT THE BLOCK TIPS--a subject that tends to worry
(nay, consume) most writers.
Tip
#166 seems to fit well with Dawn’s writing philosophy. “Shorter
is better,” she says. This book is about 154 pages in the
reviewer’s copy she provided me with. Still it is packed with
enough tips for a writer to read and savor one tip a day for a year.
That’s a lot of learning and a lot of sharing.
I believe Tips will be valued most by writers
who are just beginning, but seasoned writers may enjoy mulling over
ideas as a refresher course.
365
Tips goes one step farther than needed by also including a
CD so that writers can listen to the nuggets it provides. Repetition
is valuable when we’re learning. At each step in our writing
process we are ready to hear advice differently. Poets are experts
at knowing this too. They know about alliteration, verses, refrains.
I enjoy opening this little volume anywhere, just to see what serendipity
it might provide for me each day. It can be summed up as a little
I Ching for writers. Writers looking for an inoculation of good
old writing expertise will enjoy this little volume whether they
prefer my approach, decide to read it from front cover to back or
choose to pop that CD. This is one book that lets you “have
it your way.”
|
The
Reviewer |
Carolyn Howard-Johnson |
Reviewed
2005 |
NOTE:
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, is the award-winning author of “This
is the Place”, “Harkening: A Collection of Stories
Remembered” and “The Frugal Book Promoter: How
to do What Your Publisher Won’t.” |
|