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Average Customer Rating:

Not worth the money

Customer Rating:

This product has a handful of useful tips but its basic premise can be summed up in a few words: Make a writing schedule, stick to it, and don't make emotional or psychological excuses. That's about all the book has to say, and while the author doesn't claim to do much more, nonetheless it is not worth the money and is not the kind of book you'd want to return to again and again. In addition, its sole target audience seems to be the field of psychology, so its usefulness is even less for people in other fields.

fantastic book	Customer Rating:
The book is very readable, to-the-point, and its arguments are well-supported. Silvia takes a behavioral approach to writing, focusing on how to form effective writing habits. His book is focused on the field of psychology, but his methods are certainly applicable to non-fiction writing in other areas as well.

Great little book	Customer Rating:
I implemented some of the suggestions in this well-written guide as I was still reading it. And I will keep using them because they WORK. It's worthy of a place on my bookshelf, but I have to admit it's not up there -- because I continue to use it and to show it to everyone I know in the throes of scholarly writing.

A good challenge for writers	Customer Rating:
This book challenged me to change my behavior! It caused me to examine why I haven't been writing and to stop making excuses. I've made progress, but still trying to put it all into practice.

good advice

Customer Rating:

This book has good advice for those who want to be more productive writers. His basic point is that writing for many people is an unpleasant task, so the only way to do it is to treat it as work and schedule it as you would your other work. He contrasts this way of writing with what he calls binge writing. Binge writers put off writing as much as possible but when they come to a deadline they panic and do a great deal in a short time. He produces evidence to show that this is an unproductive way of writing. He also examines some of the excuses that people use to put off writing and shows them to be irrational. I found this section interesting and would have liked to have seen more here, especially regarding writer's block which afflicts almost all writers from time to time. All in all, though, it's a good book: short, simple and useful.