100 Simple Ways to Become a More Inspired, Successful and Fearless Writer: 100 Simple Ways to Become a More Inspired, Successful and Fearless Writer

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: "When the student is ready, the master appears" - is the first lesson of this magical little book.. and how true it is. I was looking for a writing coach and this book is it. Each lesson is important and clearly laid out. Read it once,read it again and then make sure you READ IT AGAIN - first time read it casually, second time do the exercise indicated with each lesson and the third time read it to make sure you are still applying the important lessons being taught to your writing. I hope that Ms. Lawyer writes many more such books and that I am lucky enough to read them

Excellent piece of work and very useful not only for new writers but also experienced ones

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Summary: Uncovers the treasure within you
Review: Even if you have a library full of writing books like I do, Dojo Wisdom for Writers, by Jennifer Lawler, is the one you need to karate chop those inevitable blocks along the way to certain victory. Or "Pilsung!" shouts Lawler, using the Korean martial arts saying. Other books tell you what to include in a query letter or how to tighten a sloppy sentence. This one identifies what holds you back.

I'd tell you the lessons that struck me most, but you'll be challenged by others. Are you afraid to be yourself on paper? Worried about standing your ground during contract negotiations? Think you'll fail because no one says you won't? To succeed, warriors and writers need to believe in themselves in specific ways, Lawler explains. They have fears to fight, setbacks to survive, and rejections to rise above. "If you follow the lessons in Dojo Wisdom for Writers, you will make your writing dreams a reality, too," Lawler says in her introduction. When she tells you that if she can do it anyone can, you'll believe her.

Had I found this gem years ago when I was a new freelancer starting from nothing, I'd have dog-eared the pages and scribbled on every lesson like an Emerson essay. Now, as a successful full-time writer for national magazines, I can only smile as Lawler nails my strengths and weaknesses - and those of my colleagues - in 100 simple ways.

Kathy Summers
www.healthwriting.com

Rating:
Summary: Dojo Wisdom for Writers
Review: Even though I have been writing for years, I refer to Dojo Wisdom for Writers when I need inspiration or motivation. I'm buying several copies to give to as holiday gifts for friends -- some are novice writers and some are very experienced. I know they will all benefit from the author's well-thought out advice and exercises.

Rating:
Summary: Big inspiration in a small package
Review: I keep this book on my desk, along with Elements of Style, the AP and AMA style guides a few other reference works. I'll turn to the others when I need to look something up. But if I need to motivate myself, I read one quick lesson in Dojo Wisdom. It's like having a personal trainer on my desk.

Rating:
Summary: Practical, simple, doable advice for writers
Review: I was lucky enough to be sent a review copy of Dojo Wisdom for Writers this summer. But I admit, as a successful fulltime freelancer for eight years, I thought there probably wouldn't be too much in the book that I didn't already know.

OK, I admit it. I was wrong! Lawler's tips and mini-essays like "27--Your Beliefs Guide your Strategy" and "54--Choose your Path--Never Look Back" resonated with me and have changed the way I approach my writing and consulting biz. Great advice for both new and established writers.

Rating:
Summary: Useful and encouraging for writers
Review: Like at least one of the other reviewers, I'm into both writing and martial arts. Recently, I skimmed through Ms. Lawler's other "Dojo Wisdom" book, and found her insights interesting. When I saw that she'd combined two of my favorite subjects in this book, I had to have it for my writing library.

There's lots of useful and encouraging advice for aspiring writers, or more experienced ones who might need some positive reinforcement. The martial arts flavor will be more relevant to an actual practitioner, but the underlying principles won't be lost on those whose closest brush with martial arts is a Bruce Lee movie.

The chapters are short, and come with practical exercises geared towards realizing whatever point she's making. I particularly liked being able to quickly find a particular topic via the table of contents. For example, if I'm self-conscious and suspect that I have no business writing at all, I can come to my senses on page 60. Need a nudge to persevere and actually get that short story published? Turn to page 22 for a gut check. There are 98 more chapters that counter just about any excuse not to write.

"Dojo Wisdom for Writers" belongs with a writer's other books on the craft. We all need to be challenged and encouraged at times, and this little book packs a powerful punch in that regard.


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Summary: novel metaphor: comparing writer to a martial artist.
Review: Reviewed by Gabriel Welsch for Small Spiral Notebook

A lot of writers look for metaphors for the writing life, or writing task. Myself, I am guilty of waxing on about how gardening is like writing. A friend and serious foodie makes the connection between being a poet and being a chef. Most readers can think of a few more. Jennifer Lawler has given us all yet one more metaphor, comparing writer to a martial artist. Perhaps it is the novelty of the comparison, as most writers I know are soft, couch potato sorts who tend to stay away from places where they can get hit, or perhaps it is simply the force of her case, but she is convincing.

Which says something. Writers do not suffer any shortage of books telling us how to do what we do, books running from annoyingly careerist checklists to breathless would-be eloquence on the nobility of the misunderstood artist's journey. At the same time, most writers stick with an avowed classic for inspiration or guidance, such as Dorothea Brand's On Being a Writer or John Gardener's The Art of Fiction. While the last decade has seen a number of books frank in tone and, in content, a compromise between meditation and checklist, books like Betsey Lerner's The Forest for the Trees, few have come from as deep left field as Lawler's.

A veteran writer on a number of subjects aside from (and including) martial arts, Lawler writes on the craft and profession of writing, for the most part, with some work on creativity, inspiration, the art, and so forth. Her tone stays friendly and concise, but not chatty. As the book's title implies, it is organized in lessons or forms-extensions of the dojo metaphor-one hundred such short pieces, accompanied with exercises, suggestions of actions the reader can take.

The root of Lawler's tone might be the assumption guiding the book, namely that most of its readers look to become freelance writers working across a number of genres and tasks, and hope to support themselves. While she does frequently assert that not all writers have the same goals, the majority of the lessons focus on freelancer issues. For instance, the exercise for lesson 64, "Strive for Mastery," suggests "occasionally, don't settle for competent work," a line that took me back the first time I read it. She clarifies in the next sentences, stating that she means contracted writers should strive for work which is perfect, beyond the pale, before turning it into the editor or publisher who commissioned the job. It's good advice, but advice that makes sense for only one kind of writer.

Then again, Lawler might feel someone who resolutely sticks to a single genre or mode is limiting herself. As she writes, in lesson 42, "The Way is not always straight," avoidance of other genres and other modes of writing may well shortchange you on your particular path to writing success (another notion she qualifies broadly). Other lessons focus on reading books like hers, or style manuals and guides to freelancing, once a month, and on how to pump contacts such as employers and local businesses to sell your talents as a writer for their needs.

But when Lawler is at her best, making clear connections between martial arts practice and corollary ideas in writing, the book surprises and makes very good sense. When she admonishes to seek the "target beyond the target," readers envision the fist moving through a board, aimed at a spot behind it, so that the board breaks easily with the strike. The translation to writing is to think not simply about publishing a piece, but about what the publication might lead to, how the publication helps get a person closer to her writing goals. When she advises "don't give away your moves," she talks about how keeping one's best moves give her the advantage and focus in a sparring match. For writers, it's not chatting up one's best ideas, not talking about writing instead of doing it, letting the tension of withholding help drive the work. When Lawler says "catch sight of your reflection," the literal lesson is for martial artists to practice before a mirror, to understand the entirety of their moves during movements and forms, to ensure the best execution. For writers, she means to have the ability to step back, regard one's work, and understand the moves working within it-a task helpful not only for revision but for conception and composition as well.

One of the most intriguing points is her notion, "don't allow the opponent to control match," in which she details how a martial artist wants not to be on the defensive. In a sparring match, she will try to anticipate, be confident in her ability to react, to let the fight flow without overwhelming her, accepting triumphs and setbacks as part of the whole. If she can't control the tempo and timing of the fight, she will at least not be controlled by it. For writers, it means not letting rejection, setbacks, inconsideration, and other factors derail them from their purposes. By removing the notion that a spar is a fight, and then using that idea to leap to publishing not being a necessarily antagonistic arena, the advice (as well as the other lessons similar to it) can serve to renew a writer's enthusiasm and conception of the publishing world.

Finally, Lawler also takes on the standard bits of advice-heart is more important than talent, other genres can teach you much about your chosen one, teachers and supporters are important, being a writer means sitting down and writing and not hanging out at readings professing your pending brilliance or warbling about how you're so damned interested in process. But just as happens in a good poem or story, the setting and metaphors that accompany an old story or idea make it interesting again. And given the plain-talk of this particular warrior, not only are the ideas new again, they come at you with such force that I have to wonder just what Lawler's target behind the target might be.



Rating:
Summary: Bonus - learned about martial arts AND writing
Review: When I first saw the title of this book I thought, "huh?" I didn't know what a dojo was or how it related to writers. Okay, now I know. I was intrigued throughout the book about how the author weaved martial arts lessons with writing advice. It's a philosophy book, not a "how to" book, and I learned about the writing craft and business from examples that were not just writing related.

The lessons apply to life, as well as to writing, so the book need not be for writers only. The author illustrated the book with examples relating to her own martial arts experience as well as her writing experience (and of course, the experience of others).

It's an easy book to read - each chapter is only a few pages. You can read straight through or skip around.

Some of my favorite lessons were `Be open to what happens next' and `The way is not always straight.' The advice was sensible and presented in a `can do' way.


Rating:
Summary: Some great inspiration to us warrior-writers
Review: Whether they know it or not, writers and martial artists have a lot in common. People ask 'why do you do that' to both groups. The rewards from each are only partly financial and both groups needs to find something deep within them to motivate themselves. The common predjudice is that you need a lot of talent to succeed at either but accomplished writers and martial artists know that no amount of talent is sufficient without the hard-work basics to convert it into capability. In 100 short lessons, author Jennifer Lawler takes the lessons she learned from years of martial arts practice and applies them to writing.

Some examples: Flexibility is Strength; Self-consciousness prevents action; Protect the Beginner; Overcome fear by encountering it. Some of these are obvious but even there, Lawler provides a writing 'exercise' that goes with each lesson, extending the thought, applying it directly to each writer--whether the writer pursues fiction or non-fiction.

Obligatory note: like Jennifer Lawler, I am both a writer and a black belt level martial artist and have long believed that the two are closely related--two art forms that complement one another. That said, you don't need to be a martial artist to find Lawler's 100 lessons to be useful and fun. DOJO WISDOM FOR WRITERS isn't a 'how to' book. Instead, it's designed as a source of inspiration, little hints from one writer to another, and some thoughts on how to make the lonely journey to becoming a writer (or a warrior) more fulfilling.

DOJO WISDOM is a 'frosting' book. If you could only have three writing books, you'd probably want to start with something like TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight Swain or WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Mass. But once you've got the basics, you'll want to add books that inspire, encourage, and motivate. DOJO WISDOM is a great choice for that list--and a great idea for a gift to your favorite author.