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ABC Checklist for New Writers

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The ABC Checklist for New Writers is a guidebook for all writers at various stages in their careers. Starting from the letter A, it goes through all the various pieces of information that a novelist/freelance journalist will need to know and how to overcome or avoid the numerous rejection slips that he or she may receive.
When it said in the blurb on the back cover that it deals with everything from A - Z that is associated in a writer's life, they weren't kidding! The authors, Mace and Vincent-Northam, have really put a lot of thought into this book and after hours upon hours of research, the two women have meticulously outlined every possible item of information that an aspiring or established author needs to know. The ABC Checklist is just bursting at the seams with tones of facts that one may not be aware of. They range from issues dealing with copyright and grammar, to how one can use the word count function in Microsoft Word. Mace and Vincent-Northam adopts a very conversational, down to earth style of writing in their approach to this book and the reader never feels like they are being talked down to as seen in other "how to" books. Another unique feature that The ABC Checklist possesses is its ease on finding a letter that contains something a writer may wish to look up on the contents page e.g. under V you'll find vanity publishers or competitions and cover letters listed under C. This easy to find feature is sadly lacking in other reference books and is a dream for many to see it here. Despite the fact that two authors have written this book, the writing is seamless in that nobody really knows where one writer stopped and the other started. There is one drawback in Vincent-Northam and Mace's masterpiece however, and that is repetitiveness. Though the authors go to great lengths to explain everything and simplify every detail as much as they possibly can, they do tend to repeat themselves on certain subjects e.g. how to use the word count function. One may feel that this was to create padding and make the small little tome a bit meatier. This form of repetition is not necessarily a bad thing because when one reads about a certain topic, by the time the reader comes around to it again, they may have forgotten about it and this serves to refresh their memory. That is, of course, if they haven't read the book in one sitting which is quite possible as the style of writing is so addictive that it makes this guidebook unputdownable.
Apart from The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and The Writers' Handbook, The ABC Checklist for New Writers is essential reading and every writer shouldn't be without it. "How-to"/reference books rarely get much better than this!

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