Rating: 
Summary: Bringing Ideas to Fruition
Review: "Deep Writing" has one goal: to get your writing projects off the ground and onto paper. Dr. Maisel doesn't do you the disservice of promising that if you only follow his seven steps everything will be simple and easy. He shows his sample writers stumbling and falling as well as succeeding, and he shows them changing direction, taking their time, and engaging in other realities of the writing process. It is important to him that we understand the realities of the writing process, not that we believe his method is a cure-all.The first step is as easy as quieting your mind and allowing yourself to think. It's also as difficult as quieting your mind. Simple? Yes. Obvious? Yes. But in my experience, it's the obvious things we often miss in life. Maisel presents an exercise called TIPS (Themes, Intention, Plan, Steps) that will help you make your first steps toward actually working on your project, and another exercise that will help you connect theme and intention. Another chapter deals with choices pertaining to marketplace and ethical concerns. Maisel presents arguments on both sides of the issue. Do you aim your work at the marketplace to make more money? Do you stick to your guns and write what you want regardless of whether anyone will want it? Is there a happy middle ground? He gives us the tools we need to decide for ourselves which goal is more important to us. He continues on to discuss more issues of the process of writing, evaluating the work, feeling comfortable with the work, and doing what's necessary. Maisel provides a checklist of requirements writers can meet in order to help themselves, and some brief exercises to help with that goal. "Deep Writing" is not a huge book, but it does pack a pretty good punch. It might not have massive reams of advice to convey, but the simple principles it does present are ones that can make a big difference in your writing. This book does get into a certain amount of touchy-feely psychobabble, but even if you're a bit skeptical of such things (as I tend to be), you might find it useful. If you ever have trouble sitting down to work, if you ever find it difficult to move from idea to product, this book could do you a lot of good!
Rating: 
Summary: Deep? No... But Not The Kiddie Pool
Review: "Deep Writing" has one goal: to get your writing projects off the ground and onto paper. Dr. Maisel doesn't do you the disservice of promising that if you only follow his seven steps everything will be simple and easy. He shows his sample writers stumbling and falling as well as succeeding, and he shows them changing direction, taking their time, and engaging in other realities of the writing process. It is important to him that we understand the realities of the writing process, not that we believe his method is a cure-all. The first step is as easy as quieting your mind and allowing yourself to think. It's also as difficult as quieting your mind. Simple? Yes. Obvious? Yes. But in my experience, it's the obvious things we often miss in life. Maisel presents an exercise called TIPS (Themes, Intention, Plan, Steps) that will help you make your first steps toward actually working on your project, and another exercise that will help you connect theme and intention. Another chapter deals with choices pertaining to marketplace and ethical concerns. Maisel presents arguments on both sides of the issue. Do you aim your work at the marketplace to make more money? Do you stick to your guns and write what you want regardless of whether anyone will want it? Is there a happy middle ground? He gives us the tools we need to decide for ourselves which goal is more important to us. He continues on to discuss more issues of the process of writing, evaluating the work, feeling comfortable with the work, and doing what's necessary. Maisel provides a checklist of requirements writers can meet in order to help themselves, and some brief exercises to help with that goal. "Deep Writing" is not a huge book, but it does pack a pretty good punch. It might not have massive reams of advice to convey, but the simple principles it does present are ones that can make a big difference in your writing. This book does get into a certain amount of touchy-feely psychobabble, but even if you're a bit skeptical of such things (as I tend to be), you might find it useful. If you ever have trouble sitting down to work, if you ever find it difficult to move from idea to product, this book could do you a lot of good!
Rating:
Summary: Some good insight
Review: Before I read this book, I used to be so easily suckered into buying certain non-fiction books that promise you the world. Now I know that the title is very misleading. Most often it is a hyperbole to entice you to buy the book with the first chapter hyping you on. I also learned that authors don't really make alot of money writing. There are other interesting facts, but in terms of how to write better, it doesn't really offer much.
Rating: 
Summary: An Easy to Read Inspirational Tome
Review: Deep Writing differs from most self-help how to write books in that it has a low key, supportive, and suggestive guide, instead of a know-it-all advisor. The seven principles listed in the table of contents will be familar to fans of how-to-write books, but Maisel discusses these principles in a new way. He hints at how these seven principles can be used to embrace and enjoy the difficulty of writing. Although overly metaphorical/metaphysical for my taste, Dr. Maisel is also pragmatic. His discussion of balancing creativity with commercialism should be read by all starving artists who want to eat. I also like the fictional writers that Dr. Maisel puts in the book, who are also reading the book and doing the exercises. I felt like I had joined a reading and writing group with them. One of them even expressed the same skepticism that I felt towards some of Dr. Maisel ideas. Best of all, this book is a well written and quick read (I finished it in a few hours), important criteria for wannabe writers who need to be writing. I would recommend this book to anyone who knows how to write, but is still having trouble with his or her writing.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the Process
Review: Deep Writing does not require deep reading. It is an easy read and although it offers very practical ideas and strategies, it is far more than a practical "how to" writing guide. I highly recommend it for beginning writers and those seasoned writers who are experiencing a loss of momentum, flow, focus or blocks to creativity. Deep Writing will give you the tools to get you started on meaningful & purposeful writing in addition to helping you remove any roadblocks to passionate and genuine writing. While helping you enjoy the process of writing, Maisel (who is also a psychotherapist) also helps the you along the process of 'knowing yourself' better. Some case vignettes of writers and artists he has helped along the way richly add to the utility of his ideas.
Rating:
Summary: A book for all creatives
Review: Eric Maisel has written another excellent book, which speaks to the heart as well as the intellect. Very few books on writing are willing to confront the darker side of trying to create: the monumental procrastination, the anxiety that arises at the thought of being completely authentic, and the day to day struggle to just "show up" and say yes, or no, to the creative process. Maisel treats artists and the creative process with deep respect, acknowledges what the struggle entails, and does not demean his readers by issuing false promises or platitudes. At the same time, he captures the trancendental joy that arises when we are able to enter into that trancelike state in which we produce our best "deep writing".
Rating:
Summary: Deep? No... But Not The Kiddie Pool
Review: Eric Maisel turns in a decent effort here-- one that is worth a read. He as an easy, readable style and an obvious love of the craft. Not much in the way of brand-new insight to be found in these pages, however... except for a few goofy exercise straight out of the therapist's office (Mr. Maisel, in addition to being a writer, is a creativity therapist or something along those lines).
Nonetheless, the ideas he does retread - respect the craft, nurture your ideas, etc.-- bear repeating. And let's face it, even a single fresh perspective on an old truth can be valuable.. and you're apt to find at least a couple here.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable!
Review: I just finished writing the book Remedial Genius and this was the most helpful book I have read on the topic of writing. Maisel gives us good stories, good writing and 7 great principles to help any writer get through and enjoy a process that is diminutive only to the act of giving birth.
Rating:
Summary: This stuff works! A powerhouse of a book.
Review: I love this book! With wry humor, disarming candor and compassion, Deep Writing expertly guides you straight into the heart of the creative process. The book has a wonderfully practical, no-bull way of tackling the problems involved. Its deceptively simple exercises are surprisingly effective, and they pack a real punch. Maisel demystifies both the writing and the publishing process. More than any author I've read, he's unflinchingly honest about his own unvarnished mistakes and experiences as a writer. This lovely, intelligent and powerful book feels like a gift to his readers.
Rating:
Summary: WRITING WITH PASSION
Review: Many potential writers want to write but are stuck on the blank first page. Others write an endless array of words whose content (if there is any) means nothing and leaves one dry. Enter Eric Maisel, a writer's analyst, coach, and encourager who shares with us seven principles of becoming a deep writer. What does he mean by writing deeply? He means for us to be able to write passionately and well about those things that really matter to us. Using case studies of five individual writers, he shows us how to work through the principles of hushing the mind, holding the intention, making choices, honoring the process, befriending the work, evaluating the work and doing what is required. Each principle builds on the other to a point where writing becomes a spiritual exercise. I love this book because it enabled me to reflect and pay attention to my own writing. Its varied principles and quirky exercises stimulated my mind and fostered new ideas for the printed page. Purchasing "Deep Writing" was almost like having my own personal coach to help me become more intentional in what I do as a writer. Maisel is intentional as to what he wants a writer to do and keeps one to the grindstone. He deals with the reality of what encompasses the writing business and how we must make choices in dealing with those realities. I highly recommend this work to all writers who wish to write with integrity and passionately.
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