Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams [Hardcover]

Heather Sellers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 158297425X | ISBN-13: 978-1582974255 | Publication Date: December 18, 2006

Writing a book requires a focus, a sense of knowing and trusting in yourself and your work. And it requires an unflinching commitment to staying the course. Chapter After Chapter shows you how to build on your good writing habits, accrue and recognize tiny successes, and turn your dedication to the craft into the book you always knew you could write if you could just stay with it.

Heather Sellers, author of Page After Page, draws on her first-hand experience as a novelist, poet, memoirist, and children's book author to help you prepare for whatever roadblocks you might encounter while writing the book of your dreams. You'll discover how to celebrate the momentum of slow and steady, stay in love with your book project through soggy middles and long revisions, and embrace the nakedness that is creative expression.

And you'll realize you've got exactly what it takes write your book!

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Every book is a lonely journey, but Chapter After Chapter provides the wisdom, inspiration, and wit needed to help writers go that difficult distance and not feel so very alone.
--N.M. Kelby, author of Whale Season and forthcoming Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar and Grill

Heather Sellers has written the Great Mother of all Wise Guides, an indispensable roadmap to authorship for both emerging and experienced writers. No need to clear a space on the bookshelf for Chapter After Chapter; writers will want this book in hand as they drive idea toward finished manuscript. Reading this, I lamented not owning a copy before embarking on my current project. With its pragmatic tips and helpful exercises designed to fortify against procrastination and keep me madly in love with my book, Chapter After Chapter would have saved me years of meandering off course.
--Lorraine Lopez, author of Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories, Call Me Henri, and The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters (to be released by Warner Books in fall of 2007)

About the Author

Award-winning writer and professor Heather Sellers is the author of Page After Page, as well as Georgia Under Water, Drinking Girls and Their Dresses, and the kids' book Spike and Cubby's Ice Cream Island Adventure.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (December 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158297425X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582974255
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #514,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in Florida--Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Tallahassee. My first book, which I wrote and illustrated by hand in a 1970s alternative "enrichment" school near the ocean, was titled "Arnold the Crab and Other Stories." The first and only print run was one copy. Arnold was me, and he and his family lived undersea. The main goal was to improve the interior decoration of the sea cave--Arnold had a lot of ideas.

In addition to wanting to continue writing and making books, I wanted to become a teacher. After studying creative writing and elementary education at Florida State University, and eventually earning a PhD in English, I started teaching at the college level in Texas, and then in Michigan. I still write almost every day, and think my teaching gets better every year. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have such a rich professional life, doing the two things I always dreamed of doing.

I've published three volumes of poetry, three books on the craft of writing, a book of linked short stories, and a children's book. My new book is a memoir, You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know: a true story of family, face blindness, and forgiveness. I'm at work on a new memoir.

When I'm not writing or hocking my students, I'm reading, riding my gorgeous svelte Bianchi, or wishing I was writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Having Trouble Writing?, May 24, 2007

By 

Pat Shand "Pat Shand" (Freeport, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams (Hardcover)

Well-written, motivating, at times a bit talky, but still way above the average for 'How to Write' kind of books... That's pretty much how I'd sum up this book. Also, it's oddly good. Never since Stephen King's "On Writing" have I actually enjoyed reading a book like this simply to read the writer's prose. Seller's writing is quirky and fresh, and I will soon be buying more of her books.

Now onto the meat and potatoes. The book is motivation on paper, pure and simple. I actually was unable to finish certain sections because parts of the book had me so excited to do my own writing that long stretches of time passed before I was able to find time to read this again. Every chapter had something different, and overall helpful, to say, ending with a skill-enhancing exercise. I found these exercises to be the most interesting part of the book, and--for me--made it so darn good. I have to say though; not every chapter will help every person. I found myself skipping more than one chapter, feeling the information didn't apply to me. Every writer is different, and will take the advice in a different way. Not to mention, it's a very attractive book. The design of the pages is very handsome, and is what initially drove me to pick up this book.

So, to sum this up quickly, you don't get much better than this (other than the previously mentioned "On Writing"). If you're writing a novel, a collection of short stories/essays, or your ten-thousand (eek) page autobiography, this book is for you. Plain and simple, it'll help you avoid writer's block and push you to do what you need to do to get your dream job done.

9/10

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No need to rush, July 8, 2007

By 

Architect of Skin (Philippines) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams (Hardcover)

The best part about "Chapter After Chapter" is that Sellers assures writers that they are not alone, and that great works need time to create. This may not be the book for those who are into the "novel in 30 days" school, but it does offer a perspective that can help bring one up to speed. The book is a winner, a sigh of relief.

Update: I've been re-reading this book until now, months after I first picked up the book. I may sound like a gushing high-schooler, but I can't believe that a book can reassure me the way "Chapter After Chapter" does. I'm almost done with the writing of my next graphic novel, and Heather Sellers' words help keep me going.

I always go back to her impressions about dealing with writer's block, warding off tempting new story ideas and learning more about the craft. When it comes to writing projects, I have a hard time finishing what I start, so her musings about having a relationship with your book are dead-on.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply motivating, February 25, 2007

By 

Adeena Mignogna "Adeena" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams (Hardcover)

This is one of the most motivating writing books I've read recently. Each chapter could probably be summed up in one or two sentences, but that's the beauty of it -- the concepts are clear and well understood while you're reading the book.

I used some of these techniques while writing my first book, but without knowing what I was doing (for example: blocking out or scheduling writing time). As I work on my next book(s), I've found some new motivation from this one and some techniques that I'm actively using.