Non Fiction Book Review: Writing About Your Life

Writing About Your Life by William Zinsser

Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past
by William Zinsser

2.5 out of 5 stars

The author uses excerpts from his own memoir to illustrate how to write a memoir. Most of each chapter is long excerpts from books and articles he has written, and lengthy stories about his travels and his family and different jobs that he has had. We hear about his old friends, his old bosses, his old editors and agents. We hear about the commencement speech he gave at that college, and the writing class he taught at that other college. We have to read about the school where he attended as a boy, and the house he lived in, and his father’s old shellac business that is still around today.
And then after we have slogged through all these long stories, we get a paragraph or two about how this illustrates some important point about writing a memoir.

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Book Review: Smart Brevity

Smart Brevity by Jim Vandehei

Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
by Jim Vandehei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz

3.5 out of 5 stars

People are lost in an ocean of words, and if you want your message to be heard and understood, brevity is the key. This book gives advice on how to streamline your words, so that you can communicate most effectively.

I really like that this book helps you to explore why your message matters. If you know your ‘why’, then you can boil down your message to the most important points that you want people to remember. If you can get the “one big thing” to stick in people’s memories, then you have won the battle. A few short words can be truly powerful.

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Non Fiction Review: 5-Minute Happiness Journal

The 5-Minute Happiness Journal by Leslie Marchand LCSW
The 5-Minute Happiness Journal: Practices to Help You Tap Into Joy Every Day
by Leslie Marchand LCSW

4 out of 5 stars


This guided journal explores the meaning of happiness and how it can be unique to each individual. The journal prompts you to write down the things that make you happy, to re-imagine difficult situations in a more pleasant light, and to go after your own style of joy.

The journal questions include things like:
“What is a hobby you’ve always wanted to try?”
“Write about a time when a closed door led to a new opportunity that brought more happiness into your life.”
“Write about a time when you used your imagination to solve a problem.”
“Write down one thing you do regularly that makes you happy.”

Some of the prompts are simple, and others are more complex, leading to deeper reflection. Each page builds on the previous lesson, guiding you further on a journey toward understanding and embracing happiness. Continue reading

Book Review: If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit
If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Some of the things this author said about writing really resonated with me, but other things were a bit too “out there”, flaky, and/or liberal weird. Most of what she said was really good though, and inspired me to write more freely!

In this book, the author encourages people to write from their true selves, to write with freedom from fear of criticism, to write about things they care about. Her words are at once deep and grand, but also simple and accessible. Her writing feels like a call to arms to a battalion of writers, and then she gives them training in how to be wild and watchful before throwing them into the war of words. Her manner of writing itself is actually very sympathetic and kind, but also includes the sort of tough love and bare truthfulness that makes you want to take action. Continue reading

What I Read in November

These are the books I read in November! Eleven books in eleven minutes- I tried to keep the video as short as possible, but I get excited talking about books!

Just because a book is mentioned here does NOT mean that I recommend it. Some of these were great, some not so good, and some I didn’t even finish b/c they were just that awful.

Books mentioned in order:
The Storm Before Atlanta- Karen Schwabach
The Writing Life- Annie Dillard
The CaseBook of Sherlock Holmes- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Young Joan- Barbara Dana
Eidi- Bodil Bredsdorff
Things Not Seen- Andrew Clements
Knit One, Kill Two- Maggie Sefton
The First Two Lives of Lukas Kasha- Lloyd Alexander
Shadow Bridge- Gregory Frost
For Darkness Shows the Stars- Diana Peterfreund
Same Kind of Different As Me- Ron Hall and Denver Moore