Review: Entertaining and Insightful
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2013
This isn't your typical "How to be an Awesome Writer and Break into the Business" book. You're not going to come out of it with a magical ability to outline your story, hunt down and kill "to be" verbs, or build a unique world. Instead, what you get is a lot of insight into what it is like to be a freelance writer. "Confessions" is a collection of Chuck's blogs from his website, each one giving the reader a glimpse into the highs and lows of writing as a career. No punches are pulled. Chuck makes it clear that writing is hard work, takes discipline, and requires patience. It is often a frustrating career, even for established authors. You must be willing to put in the work, not just as a writer, but as an editor, a marketer, and a human being. And all of this is presented in Chuck's irreverent, crude, hilarious voice.I'm giving the book a 4.5. Even if I hadn't gleaned a drop of useful information from it, the book was massively fun to read. I did come away with some useful information though, and a stronger sense of how I wish to pursue my future as a writer. I'm being a squid and docking the book half a star because of the typos and missing words that were sprinkled throughout the text. Chuck was quite adamant about copy editing your work before presenting it to the world, so this is my way of hitting him on the nose with a rolled newspaper.Because I enjoyed this book so much I have purchased two more of his books, and subscribed to his blog. He must be doing something right.