Some of Eric Maisel’s writing books really work for me, and some of them leave me cold. This one was kind of in the middle.

It isn’t nearly as inspiring as “A Writer’s Paris,” perhaps because Maisel lives more of his life in San Francisco than in Paris. The Paris book inspired me to go spend three weeks in France last year and play at being an ex-pat writer for a week of that time.

This book doesn’t quite reach the same elevation. But it does have a few choice pieces of ad…more Some of Eric Maisel’s writing books really work for me, and some of them leave me cold. This one was kind of in the middle.

It isn’t nearly as inspiring as “A Writer’s Paris,” perhaps because Maisel lives more of his life in San Francisco than in Paris. The Paris book inspired me to go spend three weeks in France last year and play at being an ex-pat writer for a week of that time.

This book doesn’t quite reach the same elevation. But it does have a few choice pieces of advice. There’s always something in his writing books that really hits the nail on the head for me, and this time it had to do with keeping the desire to write alive. When working on long pieces, rekindling the passion is essential.

Also, he’s always, always a great proponent of writing in order to get writing done. Not running off, not taking a class, not starting a new MFA. Just writing.

The illustrations are loving, gorgeous and true.