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How To Be a Writer: building your creative skills through practice and play

"This is a wise, humane and practical book for anyone who wants to write; it guides the novice and re-awakens the veteran to processes and practices which can bring out the best writing in all of us." —Emma Darwin, author of A Secret Alchemy

 

"How To Be Writer is the writing coach you always wanted but never knew how to find. Distilling thirty years of writing and teaching, author Barbara Baig serves up substance and support in her own sparkling prose. Any writer in search of encouragement and inspiration needs only one notebook, one pen, and a copy of this book."
Kate Whouley, author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved

 

"Barbara Baig is not afraid to go back to the basics, and in doing so, illuminates the writing process for both beginners and seasoned professionals. Her approach to writing as 'practice and play' makes good sense—and yet we've never heard it before. In strong, clear, humorous prose, Barbara teaches writers skills they can use right away to start making the writing process their own. I have used her ideas with my graduate and undergraduate students with great success, and her approach helped me reconnect with the writing process in a way I'd never learned before. Barbara's approach builds confidence because it's about doing. If you buy only one writing book, buy this one—it'll give you all the tools you need for your journey!"
—Janet Pocorobba, Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Lesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing

 

"Any writer, beginner or experienced author, will benefit from reading Barbara's book. An experienced teacher and writer herself, she sets out in clear, convincing words how the practice of writing can free up the writer within all of us. She shows how to develop the skills we need as writers, how to come up with content ideas, and how to effectively communicate those ideas to readers. Best of all, she takes the pressure off of writers to 'produce' a finished piece before we are ready. Instead, she invites us to enjoy the freedom of practicing writing in our own time and at our own pace, to learn how to collect the rich material we will need for whatever subject we choose, and to become comfortable in our relationship with our readers.
—Dorothy Stephens, author Kwa Heri Means Good-bye: a memoir of Kenya