Review: It is What it Says It Is!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 24, 2012
This book is definitely what it says it is, such as profanity-laden. If you can't take the F-word, this book isn't for you. Some of it was excessive. Some of it (read: most of it) was gratuitious, but I still didn't mind it and found most of it amusing. It is not for someone with sensitive ears/eyes when it comes to cursing and sexual innuendo. Heck, forget about innuendo; some of it was downright graphic. But that was, in part, what I liked about this book.250 Things You Should Know About Writing basically tells it like it is from one writer's point of view. He's not wrong, in general, but he's also not right about everything. There are some gems in this book, some good, golden nuggets. Then there are some lumps of coal that might have diamond potential. A few of the tips really made me think and others made me nod my head in agreement. Mostly, this book confirmed for me that this author, like most authors, is insane. I consider that good company.If I had to give a downside, it's this: several of the 'lists' repeat the same advice. That is, each list of 25 things about a particular 'subject' sometimes had the same advice as one of his other 25-thing lists. Perhaps rehashed a bit in HOW it was said, but still, basically the same advice. So technically, it wasn't 250-things total, but hey, who's keeping score here? (Apparently, I was.)Another minor thing was that some of the text was in blue on the Kindle Fire, as though it was supposed to be linked to something, and indeed, the text seemed to confirm that it referenced a webpage to go to, but no matter what I tried, I could not get the links to work. I've had other Kindle Fire books that had links that worked fine. I'm not sure if this was a misunderstanding on my part and the underlined blue words were not supposed to be links (but then the text wouldn't have read like they were links, I'm guessing), or there was a problem with the formatting that makes the links not work.Regardless, if you're a writer, particularly an unpublished or under-published writer, who is still in there struggling to get that big break, and you're getting kind of frustrated about things in the publishing industry, this book has the angst and commiseration that you might need to get you to laugh a little bit at yourself and the writing process. If you take some of this advice, you might just find yourself moving along better on the writing highway too. It's a rehashing of the same things many other successful writers have said to newbie or up-and-coming aspiring authors, but he definitely has a way of saying it that is unique. If you can handle the language and innuendo (or heck, if you're like me and you even enjoy it!) then this book is the right price for pleasure reading and giving a chuckle.