Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life

Rating:
Summary: It was a dark and stormy review...
Review: "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life" is a tribute to Charles Schulz, the late great creator of the Peanuts comic strip and its famous beagle-with-a-typewriter, Snoopy. The book is filled with various strips lampooning all sorts of aspects of writing, and tiny snippets of advice from famous authors.

The strips in this book are so funny that I had to share many of them with my husband as I read. Particularly all the ones that have within them some variation of the line: "It was a dark and stormy night." Snoopy seemed fixated on that idea, unable to get past it to anything more original than "it was a dark and stormy noon," or perhaps, "he was a dark and stormy knight."

And in between all of these stormy nights we get to see Snoopy's clashes with editors and publishers of all kinds: "Dear Contributor, We are returning your dumb story. Note that we have not included our return address. We have moved to a new office, and we don't want you to know where we are." Ouch! All writers can identify with some part of the poor beagle's struggles for fame, recognition, and a fifty thousand dollar check!

I was a bit surprised to find out just how short most of these little essays are--a few paragraphs, generally. On the other hand, it meant there was more room for comic strips, so how can I complain? This book isn't meant to be an exhaustive textbook or guide to the writing life. It's a joyful riff on the pain, excitement, and perspiration that is writing. You're bound to find something in here by a writer you love, and it's neat just to see what these preeminent folks have to say. Each essay is preceded by a related comic strip, and many of the essays address Snoopy or one of his friends directly, or mention poor Snoopy's latest plight--it's an endearing conceit. Each is then followed by several more strips just to keep us laughing.

This is a wonderful coffee table book. It's a great gift for your favorite struggling, would-be, or even successful writer. All of us can relate to Snoopy's trials and tribulations. All of us can enjoy seeing these brief words of wisdom from such accomplished authors. And all of us could use a good laugh at ourselves and the "hardships" we endure in the writing life!

Rating:
Summary: An engaging collection of writing anecdotes and insights
Review: Collaboratively compiled and edited by award winning short story writer Barnaby Conrad and novelist Monte Schulz (who is also the son of the "Peanuts" comic strip creator Charles M. Schulz), Snoopy's Guide To The Writing Life is an engaging collection of writing anecdotes and insights drawn from over thirty of the world's most popular writers, including Danielle Steel, Ray Bradbury, and William F. Buckley Jr. But perhaps the real star of the book is Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, featured in timeless comic strips about Snoopy's struggle to write the Great American (Dog's) Novel, as well as the other kids' attempts to construct literate book reports. Replete with a wealth of humorous, insightful, and filled with practical tips, Snoopy's Guide To The Writing Life is highly recommended reading for both aspiring writers and "Peanuts" fans.

Rating:
Summary: Methinks I spotted a mistake
Review: On page 153, in an effort to encourage writers who might be dismayed by rejection slips, Jack Canfield writes, "Margaret Mitchell's classic GONE WITH THE WIND was turned down by more than twenty five publishers." To my knowledge, this is completely untrue. The story I've heard (from more than one source) goes something like this: Margaret Mitchell wrote the book while recovering from a leg injury. She considered writing as simply a hobby, and she wasn't even thinking of publishing the book. She figured she was only writing it for her and her husband. But then one day a publisher came to Atlanta and some of Margaret's friends told him that she was working on a book. Margaret had once worked for a brief period on the local newspaper and she had some connections in the city. The publisher was eager to see the manuscript, but Margaret didn't have much confidence in it and she refused to show it to him. But he worked on her and finally wore her down. She showed up at the train station just before he was leaving with a pile of envelopes that contained different portions of the novel, all out of order. The book was hardly a rough draft at this stage, but the publisher liked what he read and he signed the book and Margaret went to work cleaning it up and polishing it into the book we know today. I've never heard anything about these other twenty five publishers. People should check their facts before they print things in a twenty dollar book.