YOU REVIEW

On Writing by Stephen King

Normally I don’t re-read books, not because I don’t want to, or for any other pretentious reason, but because there are just too many books to read. But occasionally I do and this book happens to be one of them.   Throughout this book, and elsewhere, King consistently advocates that the best training and education program for becoming a writer is just reading a lot. I agree, but most people tend to think that reading is just a pastime, something you do when the real work is finished. But reading is about so much more, it’s about investing in yourself and it’s by far one of the most valuable skills you will ever learn as it sets you up to learn everything else. I also think Kings advice about having the determination to “shut the door” in order to write applies equally as well to reading. In order to read well you have to be willing to shut the door on the world and immerse yourself in another one.  Fans and non-fans alike will find a lot here to relish and anyone working in the creative arts will find a lot of encouragement, not necessarily advice, which the book is kind of short on but it is however long on inspiration and thats exactly the reason I came back to it after finding it again on a dusty shelf in the used book section of our local Salvation Army.

Reviewed by Cody Sexton