Questions Writers Ask is organized in twenty topic areas around questions real writers ask—answered by the pros.
This book includes contemporary, fresh writing insights from many new voices—lots of women, many recent writers—nearly 6,000 quotations.
The quotations are listed in a conversational manner as if you’ve gathered the writers in a room and they are responding to one another— and you’re a mouse in the corner.
For the first time, you’ll find quotations about writing in response to real questions writers and authors often ask… from “How do I get started?” to “Why do writers write anyway?” to “What do I do about writer’s block?” to “Where do you get your ideas?” and sixteen more.
Questions Writers Ask is a compendium of quotes and insights organized around twenty topics relevant to writers. Karen Speerstra has arranged them so they can be read as a conversation among some of the most wittiest and insightful writers around. On one page alone, about why writers write, we read Anais Nin comment that “The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say,” and hear Groucho Marx retort, “Practically everyone in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.” As a writer for over thirty years and author of four books, I found this book delightful, helpful, and just plain fun to pick up and read. I recommend this book to everyone who is compelled to pick up a pen or sit in front of a screen and challenge themselves to think clearly and write from the heart. “Good writing is essentially clear thinking made visible,” wrote Ambrose Bierce. Start your engines. Pick up this book and get inspired.
~ Alan Briskin, author of The Stirring of Soul in the Workplace and co-author of The Power of Collective Wisdom, Daily Miracles, and Bringing Your Soul to Work
Quotes are small gems of wisdom that I wish I had thought of. Some wise, some funny, some profound, but all enlightening. I only wish I had more room on my computer for more of the quotes from Karen Speerstra's clever book Questions Writers Ask… This is a must-have book for any writer's library.
~ Sue Viders
Author of Heroes and Heroines and the card game Deal A Story (see www.dealastory.com)
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Questions Writers Ask: Wise, Whimsical, and Witty Answers from the Pros
Karen Speerstra
Robert D. Reed Publishers (2010)
ISBN 9781934759325
Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (11/09)
The 300-plus pages of this book are filled with a collection of nearly 6,000 quotations that author Karen Speerstra saved in pack-rat fashion over the decades. Some quotes are by famous authors, others by people I never heard of (as she calls them “greats” and “near greats”) and nearly all have the work in which they appear cited. Questions Writers AskWise, Whimsical, and Witty Answers from the Pros is certainly “wise, whimsical, and witty” – an enjoyment to read.
Consisting of 20 chapters, the author doesn’t just list a bunch of quotes but rather breaks the chapters into categories that make it easy for the reader to peruse the book. For instance, the first chapter “How do I get started?” specifically targets how to begin writing. From the wise statement Ernest Hemingway declares “As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come” to the witty statement Andre Gide infers “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again” this book will certainly tickle your fancy.
As I was paging through the book, my first impression was that it would be cumbersome reading. How would I get through 300-plus pages of quotes by people I didn’t know anything about? But on the third page I read a quote by Francis of Assisi “Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible” and I knew the book would be challenging, not cumbersome.
Questions Writers Ask forces you to think beyond the obvious replies to such questions as “Why do writers write, anyway?” and “Writing is just telling a story-right?” Each of the chapters that address these questions has the opinions of not just one person but many. It is up to the reader to tailor the interpretation of the quote to his or her specific need. That is the best way to fully maximize the information that this book contains.
I think Speerstra was quite fortuitous when she began collecting quotes many years ago. Compiling them into a collage of prose was quite brilliant. As T.S. Eliot claimed when asked if he had a writing method, “there is no method except to be very intelligent.” Questions Writers Askby Karen Speerstra is filled with intelligent information for every writer. If you are an author, I would recommend this book as a bedtime companion to your library of writers’ books. Every time you read it you will stumble upon a quote that may move you along in your writing. And you will also find many people who will commiserate with your sometimes frustration as a writer.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Karen Speerstra’s prolific publishing career spans three decades of free-lance writing, public relations, college and professional book acquisitions, and management. She has published eight books, in addition to numerous articles, ten years of weekly regional and national newspaper columns, booklets, card sets, children’s religious curriculum, and poetry.
Her company, www.sophiaserve.com, serves select clients with their various needs from thought partnering to creating the book plan, developmental editing, co-writing, and helping sort through publishing options.
For Karen’s free writer’s prayer that is suitable for framing, print out The Writer’s Prayer found at www.writersprayer.com.
Questions Writers Ask
Wise, Whimsical, and Witty Answers from the Pros by Karen Speerstra
Category: Reference /Quotations / Writing
ISBN: 978-1-934759-32-5
6 x 9 soft cover, 320 pages, $16.95
Publication Date:
January 1, 2010
Distribution: Midpoint Trade, NYC
Europe: Gazelle
Foreign Rights: Sylvia Hayse Literay Agency Email: hayes@caat.com
