THE ONE-WEEK WRITING WORKSHOP by Karin Adams
Nonfiction, Self-help, Writing
5*****
Blurb: It’s time to crush the blank page, shed your writer’s angst and write the novel you were meant to write! All the magic and enthusiasm of acclaimed author Karin Adams’ in-person writing workshops—now in book form! You’ve always wanted to write a novel and have been nurturing a great idea. Maybe you’ve read books by writing experts, perhaps even taken a class or two. But as you sit down alone with the blank page, despite all the dreaming, planning and learning—nothing happens. Or if the writing does start to flow, it soon dries up. Why is writing a novel so hard? You’re not uncreative. And the learning and planning you’ve done isn’t suddenly useless! Rather, you’re facing that overwhelming gap between the story you’re imagining and the book you want to write. It’s enough to stop most people from trying at all. But that doesn’t have to be you! In The One Week Writing Workshop, author Karin Adams helps you to overcome the overwhelm. She breaks the writing process down into a series of bite-sized, actionable tasks within a proven seven-step method. It’s the method Karin herself uses, and the one she has taught to thousands of workshop participants since 2010. This is not another book to read before you start your draft—it’s the book you grab when you want to actually start writing your novel. While The One Week Writing Workshop emphasizes taking action now, it also circles back to story essentials as you go. If you’ve read other writing books, it will complement, reinforce and add fresh perspectives to what you’ve learned. If you’ve never studied creative writing before, The One Week Writing Workshop is the perfect book for getting yourself grounded while you get busy writing! Structured as a seven-day workshop, each chapter is a lively session guiding you through energizing tasks that get you working on and actively growing your story. Throughout the book, you have lots of choice so that you can further tailor the experience for you and your novel.
THOUGHTS: How would you like to have a top-level writing workshop for less than twenty bucks? You’ll get that in this book. You’ll find activities to help you consolidate ideas, create characters, develop settings, and come up with a plot as well as write and revise your novel. No, you will not write a full novel in seven days, but you will find strategies to help unblock you, if needed, or get going on that novel. The author gives you advice in a clear, concise manner that you can come back to again and again. It is useful for both the beginner and experienced writer.
The book has warm-up exercises like “take a writing walk” or clip photos of people or settings and write about them. Use visual or auditory tricks, and other activities. I especially liked the section on giving yourself permission to step away if needed, for a week and do something absolutely *not* related to writing. Then come back to it. The book Is broken down into seven days, but you can take as many days as you need. You might want to even read the whole book first, then come back and go through the exercises.
Definitely recommended.
Disclaimer:
Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
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