Write Your Heart Out: Advice from the Moon Winx Motel

This excellent novel is also a how-to book that manages to be funny and heart-wrenching, sarcastic and sweet and playful but not offensive all in one. A clever parody that never belabors readers like other, ordinary how-to write books, this is a gem that meets your entertainment and your craft needs.

Not just about writing, this is what writing is about. It was pure joy to read and still plays in my mind. A previous reviewer is exactly right: learn from the narrative, although the instructions are so off-beat that they made me think about writing from an altogether new direction. The narrative takes the form of an autobiography of a washed up writer and is entertaining in its own right with poignant characters and clever wording. The "authors" obviously had fun writing this book. In the process, they made the world a better place and made some money. What could be better.

Geoff Schmidt wrote an amazingly funny and sad and good and everything else I can't think to say novel. And the parody of a how-to book never became mean-spirited. I heard him read recently, and he cracked me up. And then he made me very, very sad. Read this one folks. Get your hands on it as quickly as you can.

This is a two-fer. A novel and writing guide in one. A very clever concept by the author. Better than any "how to" writing guide, this novel shows, rather than only tells, how a writer can craft a good story. But hey, just read it for the story! Energetic and hilarious writing throughout the book. Smart and troubled characters. The ending isn't formulaic, but poignant and intelligently ambiguous. What I mean is that this book is smart enough that you will want to read it with a friend or a book group. I had some good conversations about it. Just the kind of book I like.

Schmidt's WYHO operates on many levels - a satire of writing manuals, a love story. Both tender and laugh out loud funny, this is the most entertaining book I've read in quite some time.