Customer Reviews

Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been working on improving my writing for about 20 years. When I was inside organizations, I asked some of my colleagues to review my memos and reports. I gained valuable insights. ("A verb, JR, a verb. Please.") But once I started my consulting business 11 years ago, I needed more help with my writing. My early reviewers gave me useful and helpful feedback. But it wasn't until I took Jerry Weinberg's writing workshop that I was able to take my writing to the next level.

If you want to take a writing workshop but don't feel you have the time or the money to spend a week at a workshop, buy this book. Work through the exercises--yes, all of them. Listen to Jerry's advice, such as "Never attempt to write something you don't care about" or "Writer's block is not a disorder in you, the writer. It's a deficiency in your writing methods--the mythology you've swallowed about how works get written."

I'm proof these techniques work. I've published three books, over 100 articles, and am working on my next few books. One of the techniques Jerry suggests is that you have many fieldstones, chunks of work in progress. In progress may mean you've written two words. It may mean you've written several chapter-like things. It may mean you've written 50 words. Fieldstones allow you to make progress on any piece of work, which can allow you to finish more writing projects than you could imagine.

If you want to start your writing career, or if you want to write better, or if you want to revitalize your writing, buy this book.

Two friends and I argued over the pains of writing while watching a magnificent sunset over the Pacific in Ocean Beach, San Diego.

"My writing is too short and to the point," Patrick said. "I should strive for bigger pieces".

"Bigger and not to the point?" Eileen asked smirking. I chuckled, then felt guilty.

"More like I want to pull in and engage the reader, be less concerned about brevity," Patrick answered.

"But every word SHOULD count," Eileen said.

This debate of "enriched" vs. "concise" writing seized me emotionally. I pulled a yellow 3x5 card and jotted down quickly the essence of what was said.

"What are you doing?" Eileen asked.

"This dialogue is funny. Its theme resonates with me a lot. I'm capturing it as a fieldstone."

"Fieldstone?"

"I read this book by Gerald Weinberg," I replied, "in which he described convincingly how efficient it is to gather fieldstones throughout life (snippets of anything that carry energy for you) and later use them as needed in your writing."

"Though I do notice fieldstones, I never remember them later," Patrick complained, even as I was capturing that interaction--admittedly the first time ever I had prepared for such event.

"Weinberg addresses that with the 5-second rule." I proceeded to reveal a handful of Weinberg's secrets. Both friends were now focused on me, not the sunset. Their inquisitiveness fueled the energy I felt about the fieldstone.

At that time, I had no idea how I would use that dialogue until four days later I decided to write a review on Weinberg's book. I decided to use that very fieldstone to capture the reader's attention regarding fieldstones.

Did it work?

I find Weinberg's method so convincing and practical that I'm surprised the publishers did not capitalize on the title acronym when designing the cover; nevertheless, invest in this book, and I bet it will W.O.W. you!

"Weinberg on Writing - The Fieldstone Metho"d is a marvelous handbook that will be immensely beneficial to anyone desiring to be a successful writer.
A popular belief about gifted artists is how easily their art comes to them. In the preface of the "First Folio" of Shakespeare's plays, the publishers Heminge and Cordell write: "His mind and hand went together: And what he thought, he uttered with that easiness, that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers."
For lesser mortals, however, assistance in improving our artistic craft is a true godsend. Gerald Weinberg, an accomplished author, takes time in "Weinberg on Writing" to explore with us in detail the method underlying his own processes. In so doing, he provides a welcomed service, presenting us with a cogent set of techniques, exercises, examples and advice to aid us in our writing.
"The Fieldstone Method" rests on a powerfully apt analogy, the creation of sound stone-wall structures. It takes energy and time to build a stone wall, and it takes energy and time to write. "The Fieldstone Method" shows us how the process of harnessing ideas and words into a written work is like building a stone wall: gathering, arranging, rearranging, and discarding stones as the wall evolves organically over time. Its most remarkable feature is how it helps writers keep personal energy high, efforts focused and the daunting work of composition forward-moving.
When I read about any methodology, I ask myself how well it meets certain qualities. Is the method probable? Is it possible? Practical? Plastic? Psychologically sound? For "The Fieldstone Method," the answer in each case is emphatically "Yes."
Weinberg's "Fieldstone Method" is probable in two senses: the apparent reasonableness of what it proposes and the increased likelihood of success for those adopting it. His approach is possible in that the steps he outlines are truly achievable by ordinary people. The eminent practicality of Weinberg's method is evidenced by the many imaginative exercises he lays out for writers, exercises that can be undertaken repeatedly with continuing benefit. Of course, all this would matter little were not his method sufficiently plastic so as to be both adaptable to the particular needs of individuals in all their varieties of personality and moods and applicable to the many types of writing people attempt; and that quality brings us to his method's psychological soundness. Weinberg has spent much of his career observing, studying, understanding and appreciating people and how they work, especially those undertaking intellectual activities. His methods are generously humane and grounded in profound wisdom and genuine insight into the complete human condition.
So, for anyone facing the challenges of transforming ideas into words that others will read, "Weinberg on Writing - The Fieldstone Method" will be an invaluable addition to your personal library. It will provide wonderful guidance and inspiration from now through the rest of your career. It certainly will do so for me.

After 40 plus years of writing books articles and web postings, I finally understand what's been going on. Gerry Weinberg has encapsulated in this book why I love writing. I guess I've always followed his first commandment: Never attempt to write something you don't care about.

Sometimes it's hard, but as he pointed out that's usually because I'm trying to write the wrong thing. Sometimes I feel self-conscious throwing myself into my writing, but I'm not going to do that any more.

Thanks Gerry!

Jerry Weinberg is my favorite author in the Information Technology field. I'll never forget where I was when I first read "The Psychology of Computer Programming" as a senior in college. As a student just getting ready to enter the real world of programming, that book gave me about a 10 year head-start in understanding the mindset of software development. Since then, his books have always been helpful to me and have always shown keen insight to the core issues.

As a writer, I was very excited about the prospect of learning from Weinberg himself his thoughts on the writing process. I was not disappointed.

This book set me free as a writer. The fieldstone approach gave me the freedom to use many of the articles, quips, replies to e-mail questions, and other smaller writings as a basis for books.
The basis of the approach is that instead of working from an outline or trying to write something from beginning to end, you approach the project like someone building a structure from natural stones. These are not the nice, neat stones you buy at the home improvement stores or stone dealers. These are the stones of all shapes and sizes that you find in the ground. When organized in the right way by someone who knows what they are doing, the result can be a beautiful and sturdy wall, home or other structure.

A great benefit of the fieldstone approach is that writer's block is eliminated. Even when the streams of text don't come to mind, I can still write small thoughts. You don't have to search for the perfect opening line, or any line for that matter. You can write what you know and then re-write later.
I also learned much about words and the power they have. I have started using more colorful and exciting words as opposed to the "mushy" words that are very ordinary and boring.

I firmly believe that one of the best and fastest roads to success for anyone is to write well. The better you write, the more exposure and credibility you get. I recommend this book to anyone who writes, who may aspire to write and also to those that are intimidated by the thought of writing.

Readability - 5
Coverage of topics - 5
Depth of coverage - 5
Credibility - 5
Accuracy - 5
Relevance to software quality - n/a
Overall - 5

A few years ago I had a peer who was often frustrated. People would ask him questions and he would reply "Go check your in-box!I sent the entire company an email about that last week!

The problem was, nobody actually read what he wrote. He did explain the issue, but it put people to sleep. They tuned out after paragraph 1 and hit the delete key.

My friend needed this book.

'Weinberg on Writing' describes the actual process a real person goes about when coming up with ideas for a piece, how he organizes those ideas, and little things like transitions and word choice. It will be especially helpful with people trying to get published in a magazine for the first time or people who produce technical documentation for a living.

That said, the book is not perfect. A fieldstone wall is a collection of rocks combined with mortar; Jerry takes that process and applies it to writing, where the rocks are anecdotes and concepts and the mortar are organization and transitions. He streches the analogy pretty far, and it gets a bit tiring toward the end. In the second half Jerry talks about organization, and as he is writing the book, he tells you about the changes he is making to the organization. It's a great idea, but it can be hard to keep track of. At one point, I had to ask myself 'is he writing about a topic or writing about his writing on the topic'?

So why five stars? Because I've never read a book so specific, down-to-earth, and approachable about the writing process. Most of what I have learned about writing was learned by finding *bad* writing, learning the symptoms, and trying to avoid them. This book actually provides positive, specific steps to improve the quality of your writing, along with exercises.

A few years ago I went to the writing section of my local library and checked out every book I could find. I found better books about the business of writing, pitching stories, and fundamental English rules. As for the actual process of writing, this book is far and away better than anything else I have ever read. Five Stars. Buy it today.

I attended Jerry's Writer's Workshop in 2004 and it increased my skills and confidence enough to go back to prose-writing after several years of "death by powerpoint" writing. I've now published my first book (CMMI Survival Guide: Just Enough Process Improvement) and finally took the time to read Weinberg on Writing. I truly wish I had taken the time to read it while in the process of writing my book. Not only did it remind me of things we did in the workshop that are useful; it also presented some new tools and gave background on some of the things we did in the workshop that enriched my understanding. I wonder how different my writing life would have been if my freshman English teacher in college had had access to Jerry's book as a text. I can't answer that question, but I can say that my writing life has been changed by Jerry in person and by Weinberg on Writing, for the better in each case!

<27 months later>
Still writing stuff on a regular basis. I'm even throwing something together I hope to both use in a class I'm developing as well as it being the basis of a book of tutorials on Behavior Driven Development in Ruby.
</27 months later>

<18 months later>
I'm still writing more than I did before reading Weinberg's book. I should have a few chapters published in Robert Martin's next book Clean Code.

Part of the writing is from my new jobs, which requires it a bit more. Even so, I had a full year after reading that book where my work did not require it and I did so anyway. So something stuck. Way to go Jerry.
</18 months later>

I was asked to write a proposal for JBoss World by my company. The request also included suggestions on what to propose, which I did not really like. I had read far enough into this book to have the first rule about; only write stuff in which you are interested.

I took that rule to heart, took what I could of the suggestions, formed it in to something in which I was interested, and wrote the proposal. My boss took my general outline and approach and wrote a second proposal. He was accepted as a presenter, I was not.

However, I took the work forward and then presented it at the Oklahoma City Java Users Group and the Dallas/Forth Worth JBoss Users Group.

The book discusses Jerry's metaphor for his writing approach, which is suggested in the subtitle: The Fieldstone Method.

You collect fieldstones or little gems. You then use these little gems by organizing them, shaping them and forming them into comprehensive works. Since you have so many gems (you collect them all the time), you never have writer's block because if you get stuck in one place, you work somewhere else.

This is important. You don't just work on one thing. You work on many different things and there are many different kinds of activities you can do when you "slow down." Those other activities might be collecting or reducing your current active field stones, organizing those field stones, refining other fields stones, etc.

You never have to stop writing, you just stop writing on the one thing that is blocked, let your subconscious deal with it and go on to some other, possibly mundane, but important, activity.

I've taken much of his book to heart and now that first presentation has blossomed into several different things, some finished, some not.

Let this book work its magic on you. The changes seem obvious and subtle. However, they've seemed to work well for me.

In Weinberg on Writing - The Fieldstone Method author Gerald Weinberg shares is approach to writing that he used for his 40 plus books that he has published over the years. At 177 pages, it should have been a fairly easy read, but I found that I would run out of energy after taking in a chapter. I set it down a little under half way through for about a month, and I was able to finish over a few days time. I was surprised by this because I have read some of Weinberg's other works such as Becoming a Technical Leader and Are Your Lights On?, and I was excited to learn about his writing techniques.

Weinberg offers an alternative approach to writing with the Fieldstone Method. Rather than following the typical school taught cookbook method of idea, outline, draft, revise, he shows a more organic approach to writing. The basic idea is to write in bursts as long as you have the energy to sustain your writing activity. Just as masons gather stones along the way for building fieldstone walls, writers can collect "word stones" as ideas come to them. Weinberg gives prospective writers advice on how to generate ideas, how to use quotations, how to organize stones into a cohesive whole, and how to know when you're done. Even if you don't buy in to ever tenet of the Fieldstone Method, I would suggest that readers will still likely find some useful ideas.

Besides the initial lack of energy, I had one other problem with this book - the exercises. Many of these include instructions that assume a class or group setting, but these lose some value if you are reading the book solo. Weinberg on Writing is probably worth your time to read, but your mileage will likely vary.

Overall: C

Other reviewers have done a fine job explaining what this book is about, and extolling its many virtues, so I'll keep my comments brief.

Jerry Weinberg's "fieldstone" method is a powerful concept and technique, but what stands out most about this book to me is the way in which, between the lines, Weinberg addresses the *emotional* difficulty of writing, and the way in which things like buried memories of scolding grammar teachers and other childhood traumas can weigh down our writing efforts, or even prevent us from putting words on the page at all. I don't mean to suggest that this is some kind of self-help or pop psychology book--it is fundamentally a book about writing. But Weinberg's Fieldstone Method is not only an approach for getting things written; it is also a way of thinking about writing that makes it easier to overcome the many "invisible" obstacles, to forgive ourselves, to give ourselves permission to write.

Weinberg on Writing is well worth your time, no matter your particular writing interest.