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"Room to Write"
Daily Invitations to a Writer's Life
by Bonni Goldberg 

Paperback - 206 pages (April 1996)
J P Tarcher; ISBN: 0874778255 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.59 x 7.14 x 5.00

Synopsis:
In two hundred ingenious essays, a teacher of creative writing explores the writing process in a series of exercises designed to kindle a writer's imagination, reveal the world through a writer's eyes, and respond to the creativity manifested by good writing. Original.  

@Book Review:

For many writers, getting started in their writing day is the biggest daily problem they face. Once they are up and running, they have no need for additional inspiration, but like a car that's stood out in the freezing cold overnight, there are days when a jump-start is required, and that's where this book comes in. 

You could use this book as a daily exercise, taking each exercise in turn, or you could take a more flexible approach to it. Each exercise is stand-alone and does not depend on work done in previous exercises. Each page has a title, some notes about the subject matter of the exercise, the exercise itself, and then an inspirational quote. Some of the topics of the book are taking a look at yourself and life around you, some of them require you to think about feelings, but most of them then relate this information back to the writing life, and in particular how these exercises can be used in writing fiction - for example emotions, or point of view. Some of the exercises may seem a little strange (how many writing books ask you to write about breasts for example?) but it is fun to allow your imagination to wander off into the unknown, and surprising what it can come up with. Who would have thought turning your page a different way up could unleash writer 's block? 

This is a small book that packs a lot of ideas into a little space, and although I don't use it often, it is comforting to know that it sits on my shelf, waiting for the days when inspiration doesn't come easy and then it can offer some fuel to my creativity. I would recommend it any writer who sometimes stares into space and procrastinates that they have nothing to write about!

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Book Review by: Katie-Anne Gustafsson is a freelance writer who works from home. She lives in Sweden with her husband Mikael and their young baby Jake and, although published in print, does much of her work online. You can find more of Katie-Anne's work at Deadlines and Diapers (where she has a weekly column devoted to work-at-home-parents) and Wake Up Writing (where she offers a daily writing exercise to writers). She is also the Contributing Editor for Women's History at Suite101 and the Host for History Education at BellaOnline.

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