Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile purchase for writers
Review: Jason Rekulak's "The Writer's Block" is a memorable item--it's nearly a perfect cube, 3 inches on a side, containing hundreds of pages meant to get you writing when you're feeling stuck. It includes three types of content: "Spark words" pair a single word or phrase with a photograph. Many are meant to be ambiguous or controversial; others are simply meant to be challenging, interesting, or unusual. "Writing topics" provide a brief discussion of some issue in writing, usually relating it to various published and well-known writers. "Writing challenges" give you short assignments--exercises you can play with and try out.The sheer volume of photos, words, exercises, and writing suggestions is astonishing! Beyond that, however, I'd call this book very good, but not amazing. The spark words are interesting; the photos didn't wow me quite as much, however. Many of them had that excessively posed look to them; most of them seemed to illustrate the most stereotypical or expected aspect of the spark word rather than leading the reader to new ideas. The three different types of content are scattered nicely throughout, making it quite easy, if you're looking specifically for a spark word or challenge, to find one no matter what page you open up to. Certainly you'll be able to make use of this little block for a long time to come without running out of material. Also, while the "writer's block" cube is a cute gimmick, it does have a downside. When I first opened it I found the pages very stiff and difficult to open all the way. Once I'd played around with it for a short while the binding started to separate from the pages even though I handled it very carefully. Perhaps it would have been better to sell these as cards in a memo cube. That way there'd be no worry about a binding falling apart, and it would even be easy to sell later bunches of cards to supplement the stack. All in all, a worthwhile purchase for any writer. How could you not enjoy having that many words, photos, exercises, and suggestions to play with? Just go easy on your little cube's binding, and try not to let the photos trap you into thinking about the spark words in expected ways.
Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile purchase for writers
Review: Jason Rekulak's "The Writer's Block" is a memorable item--it's nearly a perfect cube, 3 inches on a side, containing hundreds of pages meant to get you writing when you're feeling stuck. It includes three types of content: "Spark words" pair a single word or phrase with a photograph. Many are meant to be ambiguous or controversial; others are simply meant to be challenging, interesting, or unusual. "Writing topics" provide a brief discussion of some issue in writing, usually relating it to various published and well-known writers. "Writing challenges" give you short assignments--exercises you can play with and try out. The sheer volume of photos, words, exercises, and writing suggestions is astonishing! Beyond that, however, I'd call this book very good, but not amazing. The spark words are interesting; the photos didn't wow me quite as much, however. Many of them had that excessively posed look to them; most of them seemed to illustrate the most stereotypical or expected aspect of the spark word rather than leading the reader to new ideas. The three different types of content are scattered nicely throughout, making it quite easy, if you're looking specifically for a spark word or challenge, to find one no matter what page you open up to. Certainly you'll be able to make use of this little block for a long time to come without running out of material. Also, while the "writer's block" cube is a cute gimmick, it does have a downside. When I first opened it I found the pages very stiff and difficult to open all the way. Once I'd played around with it for a short while the binding started to separate from the pages even though I handled it very carefully. Perhaps it would have been better to sell these as cards in a memo cube. That way there'd be no worry about a binding falling apart, and it would even be easy to sell later bunches of cards to supplement the stack. All in all, a worthwhile purchase for any writer. How could you not enjoy having that many words, photos, exercises, and suggestions to play with? Just go easy on your little cube's binding, and try not to let the photos trap you into thinking about the spark words in expected ways.
Rating: 
Summary: The perfect Gift for the writer in your circle...
Review: My husband bought this book for me and I love it. It's cute, it's useful and it's fun. Just flipping through it, I came up with so many useful ideas. This little block book makes ya think. It caused me to ponder events long ago, and rework them into my current book. It really is helpful. I like the one word nudges....words that spark your thinking, bring up different kinds of images. For example, the word LOST. Lost Dog? Lost Soul? Lost child? Sooo many possibilities. A great gift for a writer, or for anyone who likes to keep a journal. Fabulous, creative idea. If you write, you will LOVE this little book.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect Gift for the writer in your circle...
Review: My husband bought this book for me and I love it. It's cute, it's useful and it's fun. Just flipping through it, I came up with so many useful ideas. This little block book makes ya think. It caused me to ponder events long ago, and rework them into my current book. It really is helpful. I like the one word nudges....words that spark your thinking, bring up different kinds of images. For example, the word LOST. Lost Dog? Lost Soul? Lost child? Sooo many possibilities. A great gift for a writer, or for anyone who likes to keep a journal. Fabulous, creative idea. If you write, you will LOVE this little book.
Rating:
Summary: How to tackle that writer's block
Review: Oh, I love, love, love this little "Writer's Block" book. Yes, it is gimmicky: it is a 3"x3x4" BLOCK (get it?) of 672 thick pages. They aren't numbered and there is no table of contents. That's by design. The author, Jason Rekulak intends for you to use these little exercises almost at random. I found I was very stimulated by flipping through the pages-- I started writing the exercise in my head almost as soon as I had read it. The assignments make you focus your mind with great clarity on a single point. Here's an example of one of the exercises: "There are 30,000 Americans who drink more than 10 cups of coffee per day. Write a story about one of them." I think the author's name makes a 673rd bonus exercise that I am adding here: "Write a science fiction story with an alien creature named Rekulak." (Sorry, Jason, but you got my imagination going!) Some of the assignments are geared to creative or fictional writing and others towards reportage or memoir. I love that--it's a bit like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. Since the pages aren't numbered, and the thickness of the book makes it hard to spread open, I use Post-It(tm) flags to mark any I think I want to go back to. But it's probably better to use the book like that box of chocolates and just take the vanilla cream along with the toffee that sticks to your dental work. If you do one of these every day, in two years, who knows what you will be writing? I intend to find out.
Rating:
Summary: How to tackle that writer's block
Review: Oh, I love, love, love this little "Writer's Block" book. Yes, it is gimmicky: it is a 3"x3x4" BLOCK (get it?) of 672 thick pages. They aren't numbered and there is no table of contents. That's by design. The author, Jason Rekulak intends for you to use these little exercises almost at random. I found I was very stimulated by flipping through the pages-- I started writing the exercise in my head almost as soon as I had read it. The assignments make you focus your mind with great clarity on a single point. Here's an example of one of the exercises: "There are 30,000 Americans who drink more than 10 cups of coffee per day. Write a story about one of them." I think the author's name makes a 673rd bonus exercise that I am adding here: "Write a science fiction story with an alien creature named Rekulak." (Sorry, Jason, but you got my imagination going!) Some of the assignments are geared to creative or fictional writing and others towards reportage or memoir. I love that--it's a bit like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. Since the pages aren't numbered, and the thickness of the book makes it hard to spread open, I use Post-It(tm) flags to mark any I think I want to go back to. But it's probably better to use the book like that box of chocolates and just take the vanilla cream along with the toffee that sticks to your dental work. If you do one of these every day, in two years, who knows what you will be writing? I intend to find out.
Rating:
Summary: A great value
Review: One of my creative writing students brought this book into class, claiming that it had inspired her to start churning out stories. After I browsed through some of the exercises, I could see why the book worked for her! My favorite exercises were paired with some really provocative photographs (but nothing that's inappropriate for a teenager or a mature child). There's also lots of great advice from some of my favorite authors, esp. Anne Tyler and Nick Hornby. And the section on Joan Collins novels is just hilarious! I've seen writing books that cost twice as much, and they're not nearly as good. All books should be as GOOD and as AFFORDABLE as this one!
Rating:
Summary: The Writer's Block
Review: This is a good book for anyone who wants to write or needs advice for writing.
Rating:
Summary: Small-Form Book Packs a Tremendous Creative Punch
Review: This is literally a "block" of a book. It's the kind of book you would find next to the register at a bookstore as an impulse buy. However, the small size masks a very effective tool for kickstarting your writing. There are exercises, words to spark your imagination, and photos that will help trigger other parts of your creative psyche. Of all the books dedicated toward jump-starting a stalled mind, this is definitely the smallest, and possibly the most inexpensive, but in terms of value per page, no other "idea" book can match this one. As previous reviewers have said, after a few times through the book, the spine makes it look like a kind of floppy Rolodex, but it is a great way to give yourself that extra edge when there's nothing else around to fire your imagination.
Rating:
Summary: Small-Form Book Packs a Tremendous Creative Punch
Review: This is literally a "block" of a book. It's the kind of book you would find next to the register at a bookstore as an impulse buy. However, the small size masks a very effective tool for kickstarting your writing. There are exercises, words to spark your imagination, and photos that will help trigger other parts of your creative psyche. Of all the books dedicated toward jump-starting a stalled mind, this is definitely the smallest, and possibly the most inexpensive, but in terms of value per page, no other "idea" book can match this one. As previous reviewers have said, after a few times through the book, the spine makes it look like a kind of floppy Rolodex, but it is a great way to give yourself that extra edge when there's nothing else around to fire your imagination.
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