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ancaszilagyi's review
5.0
Welcome to the Writer's Life is truly a welcoming guide for anyone who wants to get serious about writing; it's also chockfull of useful reminders for the more experienced. Perhach writes in her introduction, "You can't control whether you're a published writer, a professional writer, or a paid writer, but you can control whether you're a writing writer." This is essential to the writing life: doing the work.
I enjoyed the playfulness of this book too. The suggestion to have an adventure once a week--you can't spend your entire existence reading and writing--reminded me of an essay Gary Shteyngart wrote about how he spends every Sunday roaming New York City and eating his way toward inspiration. I also loved the list of resources on wordplay, 90% of which I'd never used before, and I'm a huge word nerd. Hooray for the writing life!
I enjoyed the playfulness of this book too. The suggestion to have an adventure once a week--you can't spend your entire existence reading and writing--reminded me of an essay Gary Shteyngart wrote about how he spends every Sunday roaming New York City and eating his way toward inspiration. I also loved the list of resources on wordplay, 90% of which I'd never used before, and I'm a huge word nerd. Hooray for the writing life!
foxingfae's review
4.0
I find most how-to-write books kind of daunting and a little discouraging by the end. Some tell you that you need to have an innate gift to write and others go on and on about how writing must become your one and only pursuit in order to make your dreams come true.
Perhach definitely isn't telling you that making a career out of writing is easy. Quite on the contrary- it's something that takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a little bit of luck. That being said, I found Welcome to the Writer's Life to be one of the most motivational writing books I've read.
I left it feeling like anyone could be a writer. You just have to get over that initial fear of failure and self consciousness. It's a process certainly, but it's doable and everyone has to go through it.
Writer's Life covers a lot of ground- from how to work on structuring your writing, editing it, how to read like a writer, and how to go about getting published. There's a wealth of really cool exercises that I'm looking forward to trying, plus an online component where you can find character sheets and other forms to aid your writing. You don't even need to buy the book to access them!
If you like to write, whether it be poetry, prose, fiction, or nonfiction, and you want to improve your craft then this is a book you should pick up. I think it will be a great resource to tons of writers of all kinds.
Perhach definitely isn't telling you that making a career out of writing is easy. Quite on the contrary- it's something that takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and a little bit of luck. That being said, I found Welcome to the Writer's Life to be one of the most motivational writing books I've read.
I left it feeling like anyone could be a writer. You just have to get over that initial fear of failure and self consciousness. It's a process certainly, but it's doable and everyone has to go through it.
Writer's Life covers a lot of ground- from how to work on structuring your writing, editing it, how to read like a writer, and how to go about getting published. There's a wealth of really cool exercises that I'm looking forward to trying, plus an online component where you can find character sheets and other forms to aid your writing. You don't even need to buy the book to access them!
If you like to write, whether it be poetry, prose, fiction, or nonfiction, and you want to improve your craft then this is a book you should pick up. I think it will be a great resource to tons of writers of all kinds.
kacey's review
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
This is one of the better books on writing that I've read recently. It's not about the craft, but offers some solid advice about getting started with the practice and (sort of) about managing your expectations.
I read this as an ebook through my local library and I don't know if the random quotes from other authors are as awkwardly placed in a physical copy, but I did find the placement of some of them a bit jarring, like they should have appeared five pages prior to be relevant to the topic they were written about.
I read this as an ebook through my local library and I don't know if the random quotes from other authors are as awkwardly placed in a physical copy, but I did find the placement of some of them a bit jarring, like they should have appeared five pages prior to be relevant to the topic they were written about.
rah10's review
4.0
I enjoyed the last chapter - it gives you a realistic plea to take care of yourself and how to fight ego. The rest is good info for beginning writers, like myself. It's compact and quick. The website has a list of the exercises throughout the book and other resources for free. Worth a look.
etienne02's review
3.0
Between the wanna be author guide, with advice and all, and the motivational book. I was less interested in the motivational part, but the guide/advice part of the book was good enough. Some advices were a bit to obvious and easy, but if you're interested in writing and no so sure how to organize or start it all, this might help you a bit!
melannrosenthal's review
5.0
This... seriously reads like the literary therapy session that every writer needs at SOME point in their process. I was lucky enough to get a free copy at just the right time in my own process and I’ll forever be grateful! Just like going to reading gives you, a writer, perspective on the reality of the trade and, hopefully, inspiration to KEEP WRITING no matter what because even the most successful authors were in your shoes once (which is one piece of advice given in the book; as part of finding your community, go be in the world of writing!), this book is full of the most supportive nuggets of hope that I’d strongly advise anyone who is stuck or feeling particularly pessimistic, to just grab a copy and sit with it for a few days, then get your butt back in the chair and make your art.
earlgaytea711's review
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Perhach combines her absolute love of life, writing, reading, and her own wonderful, chatty way of writing to create an excellent book on the art of writing. Take a shot every time you read the word writing on this review. It might make a fun game.
I have so many positives about this book and a few negatives. I’ll start with the positives. First up, the writing style. Books about writing tend to go one of two ways for me. Either they’re as boring and dry as my Freshman year literature class or they’re fun. The tone is like you’re having a fun but informative conversation with a friend. Perhach definitely excels at the friendly informational tone. It kept the book from ever getting too boring, even when discussing things like taxes and accounting.
I also think the book has some really solid advice that I plan to implement into my own writing life so to speak. One of my favorite pieces of advice is about embarrassing moments. It resonated so much with me. I’ve listed the quote below.
“...Embarrassment can be a good thing. It means you’ve grown from who you were before.”
I also really enjoyed that this book wasn’t vague. Writing books can have this tendency to talk in metaphors. Perhach uses metaphors but she also gives actionable things you can do. I love all the reading lists and resources. The distinct guides she gives to doing things like reading like a writer or learning how to edit your own work.
My absolute favorite thing about this book is how obvious it is that Perhach loves writing and reading. I’ve been in a bit of a book slump but just reading this has made me remember why I love reading so much and why I love writing so much.
Now for some of the things I didn’t like. My biggest gripe is the huge focus this book puts on traditional publishing. I read the book over a couple weeks so I might have just missed it but I don’t think Perhach mentions self-publishing and how a writer could pursue that even once. However, it’s a big part of the writing market, especially if you consider places like Amazon or Scribd.
This book also has a website associated with it. While the website is really cool, some of the links are broken and that’s rather annoying. This book is only 2 years old, I’m surprised the website isn’t better kept.
Those are my only gripes though. I originally got this book from the library but then I had to buy it because it’s the kind of book I can see myself reaching for again and again when I need writing inspiration.
chriswolak's review
4.0
If you’re a newbie writer this book will help you create your path and if you’ve been writing for years it’ll put some pep back into your step.
Reviewed on my blog: https://chriswolak.com/2019/05/17/review-welcome-to-the-writers-life-by-paulette-perhach/
Reviewed on my blog: https://chriswolak.com/2019/05/17/review-welcome-to-the-writers-life-by-paulette-perhach/
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