The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan [Paperback]

Karen E Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2008

"The Write Type" teaches writers how to identify what kind of writer they are, so they can create a writing system that helps them write their very best work.On the heels of "Write", her acclaimed book on writer's block, comes Dr. Peterson's innovative program to help writers identify their individual quirks and tendencies - and, once identified, craft a system that capitalises on them. With such a personalised system, writers can then enhance their creativity, increase their output, and write the works they were born to write!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D. - published author, psychologist, novelist, and public speaker with extensive media experience - is a former university writing instructor with an M.A. in English. The recipient of several university literary awards, Dr. Peterson has conducted research on writer's block, procrastination, and Kurt Vonnegut's use of gallows humor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598694707
• ISBN-13: 978-1598694703
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For any writer who can't seem to find the right groove or mood to really start cooking, May 3, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan (Paperback)

Committed or Conflicted? Organized or Chaotic? Lunch Hour or Log Cabin? What kind of writer is one, really? "The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan" is a guide to help writers identify with who they are as a writer by going over preferred writing conditions such as mood, organization, deadlines, solitude, order, and other aspects of ones writing that may not be obvious to everyone. "The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan" is highly recommended for any writer who can't seem to find the right groove or mood to really start cooking, and for community library shelves dedicated to writers. Also highly recommended from Adams Media in the subject, "Time to Write: No excuses. No distractions. No more blank pages" (9781598694383, $12.95) by Kelly L. Stone.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A dialogue between your right brain and your left brain? Not by switching a pen from one hand to the other., January 17, 2009

By 

Hazel "mattimeo2000" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan (Paperback)

The subtitle of this book is 'discover your true writer's identity and create a customized writing plan'.

To do this, you need to do exercises: answer questions writing first with your dominant hand then with your non-dominant hand. They are the same questions. And with me they generated the same answers, phrased differently, sometimes a bit stronger with the one then the other.
There were also questions where you had to check off items which applied to you, again first with your dominant hand then with your non-dominant hand. I'm sure, this did not switch on the other part of my brain.
Then there are the 'internal dialogues' where your dominant hand states the problem, your non-dominant hand writes what is needed or what has caused it, and your dominant hand gives the solution. I drew a blank there.
I do think it could work in a way. I know the subconscious can provide answers and/or solutions, when consciously thinking you seem to have run out of options. But for me, it needs a bit more than just switching writing hands.
After three chapters, I got bored with the exercises and just read on.

There are some good tips in this book, and many of the subjects were food for thought, where, before, the decisions had been made subconsciously.
But this didn't make the book a 'keeper' for me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Right Brain, Left Brain Conflicted?, December 9, 2010

By 

L. Mad Hildebrandt (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer's Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan (Paperback)

I've just finished reading Karen E. Peterson's The Write Type. She is a Psychology Ph.D. and this short book shows it. To be fair, it's billed as a 'companion' to her previous book - Write, which I haven't yet read.

The Write Type is supposed to help you figure out...well...what type of writer you are. Some of the categories Peterson explores are whether you're an organized or a chaotic writer, whether you approach your writing sequentially or nonsequentially, and whether you like to write alone or at Starbucks.

To help you figure this out, Peterson provides the reader with a series of exercises. She uses a 'right brain' vice 'left brain' approach. For each exercise you will answer a set of questions, first with your 'dominant' hand, then with your 'nondominant' hand. This is supposed to help you think more fully with one side of your brain, or the other. She then tells us how she answered the same questions, and how she made compromises between what her left brain wanted, and what her right brain wanted. This turns out to be quite helpful, because at first, I had no idea how to approach these exercises.

Finally, after completing the book, you should be able to come up with a 'customized' approach to your writing. You should know what time of day is best for you, where you prefer to write, and how much to write.

Peterson has approached the writer's dilemma in a unique way. Personally, I found the exercises corny, and chose to skip them. I did read her responses to them, so I knew what she intended with them. I would recommend this book to anyone who is really conflicted. If you suffer from writers' block on a daily basis, then maybe you can get some relief from completing the exercises. If you don't have those kinds of issues, but simply want actual, "mechanical" writing advice...then skip this book.