I’ve been working on improving my writing for about 20 years. When I was inside organizations, I asked some of my colleagues to review my memos and reports. I gained valuable insights. (“A verb, JR, a verb. Please.”) But once I started my consulting business 11 years ago, I needed more help with my writing. My early reviewers, such as Dave Smith, James Bach, and Brian Lawrence, gave me useful and helpful feedback. But it wasn’t until I participated in one of Jerry Weinberg‘s writing workshops that I was able to take my writing to the next level.
If you want to take a writing workshop but don’t feel you have the time or the money to spend a week at a workshop, buy this book. Work through the exercises–yes, all of them. Listen to Jerry’s advice, such as “Never attempt to write something you don’t care about” or “Writer’s block is not a disorder in you, the writer. It’s a deficiency in your writing methods–the mythology you’ve swallowed about how works get written.”
I’m proof these techniques work. I’ve published three books, over 100 articles, and am working on my next few books. Next few books, you ask? Yes. One of the techniques Jerry suggests is that you have many fieldstones, chunks of work in progress. In progress may mean you’ve written two words. It may mean you’ve written several chapter-like things. It may mean you’ve written 50 words. Fieldstones allow you to make progress on any piece of work, which can allow you to finish more writing projects than you could imagine.
If you want to start your writing career, or if you want to write better, or if you want to revitalize your writing, buy this book.
Dorset House has two days left in their sale (where you could also buy Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds). If you prefer, here’s the Amazon link to Weinberg on Writing
. But don’t let this year pass without obtaining help from the best teacher on writing, Jerry Weinberg.
Johanna,
I am grateful for running across your suggestion to buy ‘Weinberg on Writing’.
I have several books on writing but they have not enthused me enough to keep with them.
I’m not a lazy person, rather more a very busy person and am not in a country where classes are readily available. I desperately need something that will keep my interest, yet not take up all of my time.
Next I guess would be to discover an online writing group to crack the whip when I slide.
Wish me luck, I’ve just ordered it via amazon (and noticed your review).
Again, thank-you for the push.
cat
Huh. If you haven’t learned yet that “take X to the next level” is an irritating bit of marketing-speak, your writing still needs work. Go to it.
Hi Johanna, I read “Weinberg on Writing” a few years ago, and I agree with you that it is one of the best books I have ever read for people like me who have always thought, “Writing is not my thing.”
I don’t know why, but after a few years I switched to other methods, such as Zettelkasten, commonplace books, and the notecard system, to collect knowledge. The promise was that these methods would make writing much easier.
They didn’t. At least not for me.
I have now gone back to using fieldstones and following the energy I feel when I discover a “nugget” while reading an interesting book. That nugget may inspire me to start writing something and eventually become a new fieldstone.
One question: do you know what happened to Dorset House? I wrote to them 3 or 4 years ago, but they never replied. I’m not sure whether they are still in business.
Thanks again for your article.
Roberto, excellent! (I adapted Jerry’s fieldstone method to my writing and wrote my own writing book, specifically about separating editing from writing down: Free Your Inner Nonfiction Writer.)
As to Dorset House, their phone number still works. I traded voicemails with Wendy last year. I don’t know if they respond to email, but I suspect they will after a while.
Thanks Johanna 🙏
You’re welcome. And please, keep writing.