Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication and Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams (Hardcover)

by Heather Sellers (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Writing a book requires a focus, a sense of knowing and trusting in yourself and your work. And it requires an unflinching commitment to staying the course. Chapter After Chapter shows you how to build on your good writing habits, accrue and recognize tiny successes, and turn your dedication to the craft into the book you always knew you could write if you could just stay with it.

Heather Sellers, author of Page After Page, draws on her first-hand experience as a novelist, poet, memoirist, and children's book author to help you prepare for whatever roadblocks you might encounter while writing the book of your dreams. You'll discover how to celebrate the momentum of slow and steady, stay in love with your book project through soggy middles and long revisions, and embrace the nakedness that is creative expression.

And you'll realize you've got exactly what it takes write your book!

From the Publisher
Every book is a lonely journey, but Chapter After Chapter provides the wisdom, inspiration, and wit needed to help writers go that difficult distance and not feel so very alone.
--N.M. Kelby, author of Whale Season and forthcoming Murder at the Bad Girl's Bar and Grill

Heather Sellers has written the Great Mother of all Wise Guides, an indispensable roadmap to authorship for both emerging and experienced writers. No need to clear a space on the bookshelf for Chapter After Chapter; writers will want this book in hand as they drive idea toward finished manuscript. Reading this, I lamented not owning a copy before embarking on my current project. With its pragmatic tips and helpful exercises designed to fortify against procrastination and keep me madly in love with my book, Chapter After Chapter would have saved me years of meandering off course.
--Lorraine Lopez, author of Soy la Avon Lady and Other Stories, Call Me Henri, and The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters (to be released by Warner Books in fall of 2007)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (December 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158297425X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582974255
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #133,482 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to arrange your life so it has writing in it., January 25, 2007

By	Margaret Yang (Ann Arbor, Mi USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed Heather Sellers' previous book, Page by Page, which focused on the writing itself. There are dozens and dozens of books on "how to write." This one is different, and better, because it focuses on the writer's life. So many people say they would like to write a book "someday." They don't lack desire or talent, but they haven't figured out how to arrange their lives so that it has writing in it. With Chapter after Chapter, Heather Sellers joins Anne Lammott (Bird by Bird) and Bruce Holland Rogers (Word Work) in showing writers how to be a writer and still have a life. Sellers gives lots of personal examples, showing the painful mistakes that she's made, and tries to help the reader avoid those same mistakes. Basically, she points out the ways that writers shoot themselves in the foot and shows us how to stop doing that. Having been a writer for many years, I personally found some of the advice too basic, but it would be invaluable for a beginner. And I still learned a lot from this book. Sellers touched on areas that even an experienced writer can improve (like "book creep" and "I just want to be done syndrome"). This is a great addition to my bookshelf.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Having Trouble Writing?, May 24, 2007

By	Pat Shand "Pat Shand" (Freeport, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Well-written, motivating, at times a bit talky, but still way above the average for 'How to Write' kind of books... That's pretty much how I'd sum up this book. Also, it's oddly good. Never since Stephen King's "On Writing" have I actually enjoyed reading a book like this simply to read the writer's prose. Seller's writing is quirky and fresh, and I will soon be buying more of her books.

Now onto the meat and potatoes. The book is motivation on paper, pure and simple. I actually was unable to finish certain sections because parts of the book had me so excited to do my own writing that long stretches of time passed before I was able to find time to read this again. Every chapter had something different, and overall helpful, to say, ending with a skill-enhancing exercise. I found these exercises to be the most interesting part of the book, and--for me--made it so darn good. I have to say though; not every chapter will help every person. I found myself skipping more than one chapter, feeling the information didn't apply to me. Every writer is different, and will take the advice in a different way. Not to mention, it's a very attractive book. The design of the pages is very handsome, and is what initially drove me to pick up this book.

So, to sum this up quickly, you don't get much better than this (other than the previously mentioned "On Writing"). If you're writing a novel, a collection of short stories/essays, or your ten-thousand (eek) page autobiography, this book is for you. Plain and simple, it'll help you avoid writer's block and push you to do what you need to do to get your dream job done.

9/10

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No need to rush, July 8, 2007

By	Architect of Skin (Philippines) - See all my reviews

The best part about "Chapter After Chapter" is that Sellers assures writers that they are not alone, and that great works need time to create. This may not be the book for those who are into the "novel in 30 days" school, but it does offer a perspective that can help bring one up to speed. The book is a winner, a sigh of relief.

Update: I've been re-reading this book until now, months after I first picked up the book. I may sound like a gushing high-schooler, but I can't believe that a book can reassure me the way "Chapter After Chapter" does. I'm almost done with the writing of my next graphic novel, and Heather Sellers' words help keep me going.

I always go back to her impressions about dealing with writer's block, warding off tempting new story ideas and learning more about the craft. When it comes to writing projects, I have a hard time finishing what I start, so her musings about having a relationship with your book are dead-on.