Customer Reviews

Coach Yourself to Writing Success: Teach Yourself

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I have to admit to being a bit scared of self-help books, so I did approach this with some trepidation. But its forthright yet approachable style drew me in straight away. What I like about this book is that it doesn't deal with the nuts and bolts of writing (the craft, if you like) - it tackles more fundamental issues of personal motivation and making time in your life to be a writer. It also doesn't shy away from uncomfortable truths about the artistic life - you might discover that you actually don't want to be a writer after all! But this is not a negative outcome - the reader is encouraged to see this as freeing them from an aspiration that may well have been placed upon them by someone else.

The second half of the book deals with practical strategies for avoiding procrastination, becoming more creative and avoiding writer's block. Even if you're resistant to the "getting in touch with your inner writer" stuff, the book is worth buying for these latter chapters alone. If I have a criticism of the book, it's that there is actually too much information to absorb in one sitting, so dipping in and out is a good idea. But the author backs up her advice with plenty of real-world examples and there are many thought-provoking and practical exercises to undertake. You will absolutely get out of this book what you put into it, but then that's also very true of writing itself!

I bought this book while browsing for a writing coach book. I've never heard of the author before. I'm not even half the way through this book, but I feel I must review it because it's already been incredibly helpful to help me focus on my writing goal and what I want to achieve with my writing. This book does take quite a lot of time to go through because there are a lot of exercises to do - but each one has a purpose to help you concentrate on your writing life. I highly recommend this book to any writer who needs coaching but can't afford to pay for a coach in person. Worth it's weight in gold and thank you to the author.

A practical, easy-to-read guide for boosting motivation. It uses prompts and questions to help evaluate where you are now and take you to where you want to be. There are case studies, diagrams and exercises and each chapter sets out the learning points you will cover. Immensely useful.

The book is well-written and surprisingly insightful. It guides you to think differently about life and writing and you can take from it whatever you need. I am already more productive as a result of downloading it to my Kindle.