The Writer's Mentor: Secrets of Success from the World's Great Writers

With his usual good humor, insight and wit, Jackman serves as an able guide through the writing and publishing process and his own experience of it. Experienced writers and strivers alike will find much to enjoy in this volume. I particularly liked how the author draws on his encyclopedic knowledge of writers biographies in illustrating his points. Keep this book with your dictionary and thesaurus.

Mr. Jackman's The Writer's Mentor is extraordinarily helpful for anyone who needs a bit of push to get words onto paper, but more than that it is an absolute delight to read. It is wonderfully entertaining and informative. Anyone who enjoys any aspect of language, literature or the written word will find joy between these pages.

I expected this to be simply a compendium of quotes about writing, but it's actually a clear and well-thought-out book full of advice and inspiration for anyone who writes -- or aspires to write.From philosophical points about writing to nitty-gritty how-to details for all genres, I found this useful and fascinating, not to mention entertaining. I especially enjoyed the chapter on "Publishers and Publishing."The book is shaped very well, but also populated with what you'd have to call "intimate" revelations by famous writers (and editors) about writing. If you could have a drink with Yeats or Stephen King (or the poetry editor of the New Yorker or a literary agent), this is what you'd get.