Writing Articles from the Heart: How to Write & Sell Your Life Experiences [Hardcover]

Marjorie Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0898795400 | ISBN-13: 978-0898795400

Holmes, who has sold hundreds of her writings to publications such as Reader's Digest and Ladies' Home Journal, offers advice on getting essays and sketches, humorous stories, personal experiences, advice, inspirational tales, and other "articles from the heart" onto the page and ready to be published--written in a way that pleases the reader as well as the writer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (March 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898795400
• ISBN-13: 978-0898795400
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #562,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cookbook for Article-Writing Success!, November 27, 2000

By 

Jennifer M. Macleod "yiddishe supermama" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Articles from the Heart: How to Write & Sell Your Life Experiences (Hardcover)

I agree with the previous reviewer who found this book a little dated.

However...that said, her one chapter, "Three Surefire Ways to Organize What You Have to Say " contains the most down-to-earth and ... well... *surefire* way of writing any kind of article that I have seen in any writing book. Period.

In true cookbook fashion, Holmes will help you assemble your ingredients and stir them together in the most reliable way possible. As with any good recipe, there's plenty of room for creativity, but Holmes is there to coach you along the way.

Of course, the price is probably on the high side, just for that one chapter. :-) But if you can see past her sentimentalism, there are plenty of other gems in here as well.

I have written many articles using Holmes' formula(s), and I try to always check back with this one little chapter, just to make sure I'm on course. Time and again, I have found it has helped me smooth out my articles' rough edges and produce polished pieces I can show off with pride.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Step in My Journey, February 23, 2000

By 

Denise Kennemer (Stillwater, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writing Articles from the Heart: How to Write & Sell Your Life Experiences (Hardcover)

This book gave me wonderful new insights into myself and my goal to help others learn from my mistakes and life experiences. I have always enjoyed keeping journals and diaries and now I have a new use for these records of my personal experiences. This book provides many wonderful but practical suggestions for identifying topics to write about, organizing your material before you write, identifying who to submit your work to for publication and much more. It also provides great information on writing technique. Chapters 11 & 12 identify the five fundamentals of all good creative writing and the basics of tone, focus and pace. Chapter 17 was very helpful, describing ways to identify potential publishers/editors to submit your work to. The basic premise underlying this book is similar to that described in Dale Carnegie's Quick and Easy Ways to Effective Public Speaking. He calls it the Magic Formula...talk about something you've earned the right to talk about (through personal experience or knowledge), begin with the incident, describe the action you want the listener (or reader in this case) to take, then list the benefits to the listener (reader) if they take that action. Writing Articles from the Heart is a wonderful book for novice and experienced writers and speakers.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not for people who already write, October 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Articles From the Heart (Paperback)

i didn't care much for this book, although perhaps it would be helpful to a beginning writer. Holmes' advice on keeping a notebook, for instance, seems rather obvious. and her 'you can do it too!' attitude gets grating.
what disturbed me most were all the examples. i didn't learn anything from them--this book just seemed a showcase for holmes' work. i don't mind a book written by a conservative homemaker, but this book should be about writing, not about her views on life. Nor did i particularly care to learn how succesful she was in her career as a columnist. to anyone who already knows anything about writing articles, i would recommend saving your money.