I'd Rather Be Writing [Paperback]

Marcia Golub (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

Blending sympathetic understanding with hard-earned advice, Golub offers a balanced approach to getting more satisfaction from the writing craft. She explores the typical dilemmas: how to balance other duties with unbroken writing time; notemaking; seeing ideas through; and coping with rejection.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Golub...shows us how to find "time in the cracks" between family, career, and shopping to perfect the craft, capture those flashes of brilliance, and have a really great time doing it. From the reluctance to actually start a work to the resistance against ever finishing it, she grabs hold of the writer's soul and shows us we are not alone in the silly avoidance games we play. She devotes an entire chapter to fun, creativity-inspiring exercises, and intersperses dandy little "Try This" tips throughout the book. In this delightful, amusing, honest look in the mirror at our writer-selves, it is very comforting to see the reflection of many, if not all, writers looking back. -- NAPRA ReView, Sept/Oct 1999 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Marcia Golub leads workshops and lectures on fiction writing and overcoming writer's block at the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and The Writer's Voice. She has published three novels, including Tale of the Forgotten Woman. She lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582970920
• ISBN-13: 978-1582970929
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for "serious" writers., August 22, 2000

By 

Kenneth Blum (Orrville, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I'd Rather Be Writing (Paperback)

If you're a "serious writer" - the type who sits down at the keyboard and opens up a vein, as Red Smith would say - you need I'd Rather Be Writing.

You need this book because you're probably taking yourself too seriously, as writers tend to do. Marcia Golub offers balm for your wounded soul via sound advice and a fantastic sense of humor.

The mixture makes for a book that's helpful, and often hilarious.

While the style may be breezy, there's plenty of meat. I found the sections on writer's block, meeting a rigid self-imposed deadline, and "writing through" very helpful. True, it's advice that you've probably heard or read before. But Marcia presents ideas and exercises that are fresh and genuinely useful.

For instance, here's one of her more serious passages about making progress:

"Some people tell themselves they can't write without a perfect beginning. They're looking for that opening sentence, that great scene, the bit that's going to bring the whole together. And so they can't start. But they can't get that beginning without actually beginning. No amount of kvetching and moaning and pushing is going to get it out of them. The only chance one has of finding that beginning is beginning. This sounds like a koan, some kind of irritating wisdom along the lines of the sound of one hand clapping. I don't mean to annoy you. There's no other way to say it. You start by starting. You give up perfectionism. What has perfectionism done for you lately? It's kept you frozen in the dread of that first step. Instead of giving into that feeling you say: okay this isn't how I want it to go, but it's a start. Then you tap out an inane sentence or two or two hundred . . . eventually it will start to flow . . . by the time you get to the end you will know or at least have a better idea how to begin."

I would venture to say that this is Ms. Golub's best selling book. By her own admission, her novels have not fared well. Maybe she should adapt the muse she followed in the writing of this book to her fiction. If she put this voice and wit into a novel, there's plenty of potential.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Motivational, Informational, and easy to read., November 29, 1999

By 

Eldonna Bouton "http://www.whole-heart.com" (author of, "Journaling from the Heart.") - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I'd Rather Be Writing (Paperback)

I usually find that books about writing pretty much say the same. Not true for this book. First I fell in love with the cover, then I ended up devouring the whole book as I sat nodding with appreciation for all the advice the author gives with regard to trying to find the time to write to how not to sabotage your writing time. This one is on the top of my list for writing advice books.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this for a writer you love - Indispensable!, April 18, 2002

By 

"verona_beach" - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'd Rather Be Writing (Paperback)

I have been a semi-professional writer for about six years now, but have always tended to shy away from `How To' books for writers. Rather than set my mind free and allow the ideas to flow, I find they just leave me scared that my structure is all wrong, I don't know my character's motivations, and what have you. They tell me how to write, not *what it is to write* - a crucial difference. This book addresses not the technical aspects of writing, but the practical ones - like managing to fit writing into a life which already involves cooking, cleaning, picking up kids from school, and the writer's nemesis - procrastination! (heck, why do you think I'm sitting here writing a review on Amazon when I should have started my writing three quarters of an hour ago?)

Marcia Golub's book is the only book on writing which makes me want to rush to my computer and start typing as soon as I have finished a chapter. I bought it after a bout of writer's block which saw one and a half screenplays and half a novel languish on my hard drive for months, while I quietly rolled up into a quivering ball vowing to never write ever again. After reading `I'd Rather Be Writing', my only question is: what was I so scared of? Why did I avoid working on what I love doing?

Any writer, amateur or professional, will be able to sympathise with the situations Golub sets out. It's bizarre but true - writers will sometimes do anything to get out of the act of writing and more importantly, putting their work out into the open where it may succeed or fail. It is all too easy to fall into bad habits, and disconnect yourself with the reasons you fell in love with writing in the first place. Golub helps you break these habits, and form productive ones in their place.

Her writing style is conversational and witty - she makes you feel as if you're an old pal who has stopped over at her place for a nice cup of coffee and a bit of advice. Working through her hints and tips and following her advice, I've now finished both screenplays, and am looking forward to completing the novel rather than dreading it.

If you have a family member or loved one who drives you crazy as they rant at their computer, tear their hair out, wear a track into the carpet with their pacing, and insist on giving the dog its fifth walk of the day - I highly recommend you pick up a copy and place it on their bookshelf right next to the Strunk and White. It'll be a reward for you as well as them!