Looking over the last several reviews I’ve done, I realized that they are heavily weighted toward books about writing.  In part this is because I love reading about craft or reading authors’ advice to new writers.  At the same time, since the semester is drawing to a close–and with the end of semester comes my thesis deadline–I haven’t had nearly enough time to read fiction as I would like.  So today will be another writing book and with luck, by two weeks from now, I’ll be done and ready to start reading for fun again.

This week’s book is The Writer’s Book of Matches by the staff at Fresh Boiled Peanuts.  This book is a collection of writing prompts that range from the normal to the absurd to the hilarious.  There are 1001 prompts so even if you did one each day, it would take you three years to get through the book.  At the end, the editors include a handy-dandy guide on how to reuse the prompts and keep them fresh.  Overall, this book has the essentials for a useful writing book.  There’s plenty of variety and it’s small so it’s easy to carry when writing on the go.

Recipe for a Writers’ Group

• 1 notebook
• 1 pen
• 5-6 fellow writers
• meeting space with good ambient noise level and coffee

Time required: 2 hrs.

Instructions:
     Begin with 10 minutes of catching up and group business.  Share your successes.  Give encouragement.  Mix in some writing exercises, maybe read a poem or two.  Discuss, then set aside.
     Separately, begin preparing the critique portion.  Always add positive feedback first, then constructive criticism.  Add a cup of supportive comments for every dash of the negative.  Then sprinkle in a pinch of suggestion and a teaspoon of creative problem-solving.
     Fold together with the original mixture.  Spread in a baking pan and let incubate for about a week.

Serves: 6-7 writers

To my fellow writing friends: your support and encouragement help me concoct my best literary feasts.  Thank you.

This week’s exercises went a little better but I still haven’t hit my stride.

The Exercises:

• My Pet by Alison Lurie
• Wedding Cake Assignment by Debra Spark

The Results:

While the exercises above went fine, this week was all about writing on the fly.  In particular, I did a couple of fun exercises with my writer’s group.  One of the exercises was to write a short parody based on a postcard of a piece of art.  I chose Henri Rousseau’s The Dream.

Then we also did an exercise where we wrote a short piece with one of the following three titles:

1. How to Eat a _____________
2. Eating __________________
3. Recipe for a ______________

This exercise was inspired by the poems How to Eat a Poem by Eve Merriam and Eating Poetry by Mark Strand.  I ended up writing an ode to my writers’ group.  Unfortunately, these two exercises don’t count toward the writing challenge so this week I only crossed two off my list.

I recently added a new book to my writing bookshelf: The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell.  This is not a book to be read in one sitting, but rather, a book I plan dip into now and again, when I need a swift kick in the pants.  This week’s kicks are:

Recon Protocol #07:  Whining will not help you win the battle for publication.

All I can say is YES!  I am sooooo tired of hearing about how hard publishing is and how miserable it makes some writers.  I hereby vow not to whine for the duration of my thesis.  Heck, let’s make it the duration of this entire draft.  Because yes, becoming a published writer is hard and sometimes painful, but so are all worthy careers.  Like being a secret agent or a brain surgeon.

Recon Protocol #03:  Know the difference between a hero and a fool.

You know the phrase “don’t be a hero”?  In short, a hero is someone who does heroic things without really setting out to do them in the first place, while a fool is one who thinks he’s already a hero so he just sits back and expects all the laud and admiration to come to him.  We all know writers who are fools and writers who are heroes.  The trick is both to be a hero yourself and also try to refrain from smacking the fools upside the head.

This is just a small sampling of the pearls of wisdom (pearls I tell you!) that are in this little book.  And as for the writing-as-war metaphor, what can I say?  As someone who treats most endeavors of her life with military precision, I was right at home with this book.  All I know is, if it weren’t for my problems with authority figures, I’d make a great war general.