How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort

In this rich treasury, two prolific and successful authors provide advice, cautions, pointers and encouragement on becoming a happy and productive writer. You'll learn how to organize your life to focus on writing, how to get started each day, how to protect yourself from distractions, how to keep things simple, how to replenish your creativity. You'll discover the Asimovs' way of surviving the torture of waiting for a publisher's response, and how to handle a scathing review (write a devastating rebuttal, put it in an envelope, affix a stamp, seal it... then tear it up and throw it away). They share their considerable experience in the writing of fiction (particularly science-fiction and mysteries); non-fiction, including science for the general reader; and children's books, a field in which they write both as individuals and in collaboration. The Asimovs make their points with essays, anecdotes, and husband-wife dialogues, along with cartoons by Sidney Harris on the agonies of authorship, and many quotes on the writer's craft by writers the authors admire. The book concludes woth a description of their working library: a colection of beloved, reread, useful books that the authors find essential to their own enjoyment of writing. Here is a spirited, upbeat guide for hopeful beginners - as well as seasoned professionals - on the hazards and rewards of the writer's life.