The Writing Trade: A Year in the Life

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

A must for the freelance nonfiction writer:

I bought this book when it was new, and I'm now reading it for the fourth time. To me, a freelancer like Jerome, it's like a shot of Vitamin B-12. The late John Jerome loved writing, loved it enough to give up a steady income as a magazine editor to write what he wanted to write -- well most of the time anyway. Beginning in on a cold New Year's Day, Jerome takes us through a year of his life: struggling with words, revising drafts, reading galley proof (yes, remember when they had galley proof), while all... more info

Writing is easy.:

John Jerome, freelance writer and author of the book, The Writing Trade...A Year in the Life gives us a 12-month account of a writer's life. The book, written in diary form takes us through revisions, writers block, publication, and most importantly, it takes us through someone else's life. The book isn't just about how to write. Actually it really isn't about how to write at all. "The aim here is to show how a writing life works: A book about the workaday process of making sentences for a living." Jerome... more info

The Writing Trade, A Year In The Life:

"Let's see, what's the best way to tell this?" This is how John Jerome believes every piece of writing should start. "It should never make its way onto the page, of course, (except perhaps as a joke), but it should inform the writer's angle of attack" (84). This book is what you could call "thrown together," so I don't know what his angle of attack for this book would be. It is separated similar to how a journal or diary would be. It is written in a very informal and conversational manner about a variety of... more info

An invaluable look at the day-to-day life of a freelancer:

As a full-time magazine and book writer myself, I make it a point to reread this book at least once every year. I never cease to learn something from Jerome's example -- whether it's tips for crafting a nonfiction book proposal, inspiration for generating new ideas, or simply managing the paperwork of selling writer. I only wish he published such a journal for *every* year of his writing life!

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