Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This a classic for any writer, no matter how experienced. I've published two books and many articles and reviews, but I learned so much from Marjorie Holmes that I felt like a beginner all over again! Her book is warm, practical, and full of the joy of conveying your unique personality in print. I finished the book and realized the author and I live in the same region (Northern Virginia) and have taught at the same university (Georgetown). Full of gratitude, I immediately wanted to look her up and write her a fan letter. Imagine my distress to learn that she passed away in 2002, at the age of 92. This book is such a gift. I do hope that she not too busy in Heaven to pay attention to her Amazon reviews, and that she realizes just how much her book meant to me.

Some basic writing guidelines are timeless...and I think Marjorie Holmes proves that here. If you want to celebrate the wonderful "stuff" of your daily life and put it on paper then this book is for you. I teach a personal writing workshop using this book and it's always a hit.

Marjorie has something to say and says it well, but I find little from this book that I can take away and use for my own writing development. Her style might do well in more conservative publications, but, in general, I find it a bit dated.

I certainly believe in writing in a warm, conversational, and humorous manner (this review aside!) but Marjorie's style strikes me as overly sentimental and "pat." Also, as a liberal, non-Christian, urban lesbian, few of Marjorie's suggestions for topics apply to me. She also makes some statements that I find offensive.

If you're planning on writing for Guideposts or for Chicken Soup for the Soul, snap this up. If you're a suburban heterosexual mother of four, this book may be inspirational. However, if you're looking to publish in more progressive or liberal venues, or you like writing with a bit of an edge, pass this book by. You can find encouragement and affirmation in other books on the Reference shelf.

Amazingly, this is still in print, though that is probably due to the author's reputation and not on the strength of the content. It is very dated--and it was likely dated when first published, since it seems written for those aspiring to write for the women's magazines of the 50s and 60s. I don't recall seeing columns of the sort Holmes seems to be emphasizing for more than 20 years.

Another distraction is the overuse of her own writing as examples. Yes, I know that it can be hard to obtain rights to include large excerpts and, yes, her own works were readily at hand, but there are two problems with this approach. First of course is the egotism that jumps off the page and can be very off-putting after a short time. The larger concern however, is that it does not always seem as though the examples chosen are really all that good. Marjorie Holmes has written much and written well, but were her editors afraid to suggest more active pruning and judicious use of the work of others with better writing samples for the points she was making?

One final point to address regarding a couple of the other reviews here: is there some kind of over-sensitivity developing around all things gay? As I read through this entire text, I found one tiny reference to a gay son, so downgrading an entire book just because the author had the temerity to express an opinion only briefly seems akin to a campaign for censorship and against free speech.

Several reviews mention the book is dated-- and it is, but the advice is good and the author takes the time to give step-by-step instructions on how to write and sell articles. Reading this book I felt the author really had a passion for what she did and shared some personal feelings, but most importantly she gave how-to details. Good reference book.

As a straight, non-Christian mother of two I found this book to be highly offensive as an opinion piece (the writer is homophobic and believes in censorship) and worthless as an aid for writers (the section on humor was flat and the advice is the same in other (and better) books that don't feel it necessary to force Christo-fascism down the reader's throat). I am only thankful that I bought this book used for $1. It removes any guilt I might have had over throwing the book in the trash had I paid new price for it.