This is a book of very short essays on writing. It is a fast read, and something that we were given in my Advanced Creative Writing class this past winter. It is very enjoyable and has some great advice. I particularly enjoyed a few of the pieces on Composting, and also tricking yourself into writing by promising chocolates and pastries (This works especially well when performed out at a restaurant sitting across from the dessert case – can’t order until you write five pages, etc.)

One of the most practical pieces I applied from this is the concept of buying a cheap notebook with some ugly picture on the front (the two dollar kind) every month, and filling it each month. (Because 160 pages a month is quite a bit, and they dont really come smaller than 80 sheets, I am working my way up to filling it, and my goal this year is to just write more each month than the last.) This is going pretty well for me so far, I started in December, and have all these crazy colored notebooks with flowers and stripes. The idea is if the notebooks are not the most beautiful things in the world then you won’t feel intimidated to write in them, and you wil just say whatever is on your mind.