If a frustrated writer is looking for a productive distraction, 73 Ways to Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse might be the answer. Author Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, Suite101's Featured Writer for Psychology, uses her engaging style and light wit to convince would-be authors that if they want to start writing, they need to stop avoiding the task.
An Overview of Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse
Fire Up is a quick, informative read for intelligent, committed writers. This is not a publishing handbook or a grammar manual; it is a guide for people who write well enough to consider a freelance writing career and are running into frustrating obstacles. There are inspirational quotations, illustrative stories and examples. There are also a range of solutions to commons problems.
It might be helpful to keep a journal handy while reading the book to work with the ideas the ideas that seem particularly relevant. In one section, written with Pawlik-Kienlen's easy humor, she writes that, "Happy chuckleheads don't have fears, neuroses, insecurities, vulnerabilities. Real writers do. And the realest of all real writers keep falling forward...Do you have a 'a chattering monkey mind' that distracts and discourages you?" That would be a good question for a writer to journal about while reading the ebook.
Writing Advice From Authors at Different Career Stages
While the book is full of quotations from established writers, it also has stories and advice from writers who are struggling to get started, who are coming to terms with rejection letters, and who are looking for a way into the world of writing. Pawlik-Kienlen shared some of the of the struggles that writers face in a June, 2009 email interview. "A crowded market, busy editors, unacknowledged query letters, swamped literary agents, constant rejection, and self-doubt/fear/lack of motivation. Writing is tough work…and I wouldn’t trade it for all the stars in the night sky."
The author is follows her own advice; she doesn't ask writers to do anything she isn't doing herself. "If you want to write," she emailed, "do it because you love learning the craft and aren’t concerned about earning billions of dollars as a journalist, novelist, blogger, or freelance magazine writer."
Reading Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse on an eReader
The formatting of the ebook makes it easiest to read on an ereader that handles pdf files natively, and possibly even a pocket pc ereader or an iPhone ebook app to see the colored boxes and colored fonts. The ebook was easiest to read with Adobe digital editions; the blue font used for quotations becomes a light gray when the book is read on an e-ink ereader.
Because this is the kind of book that inspires someone to reflect and take notes, reading it on an ereader takes advantage of one of the strengths of ebook devices: being able to highlight and take notes on the spot, and being able to return to those thoughts quickly.
The book has the feel of being a workbook without any exercises; writers are on the honor system to follow through with the lessons learned. Pawlik-Kienlen is an experienced writer who gives good advice, and she follows it herself. Her own favorite quip is from Samuel Becket: “Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” She offers support for fellow writers on her site, The Adventurous Writer.
Publication Information
73 Ways to Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse is written by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen. It was published by Quips and Tips for Successful Writers in May, 2010, and is available for the Kindle through Amazon Digital Editions with the ASIN: B003MNGI08. Non-Kindle readers can get a convertible pdf version from The Adventurous Writer website.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
