Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

(9 reviews)
$14.00

Douglas Wilson

Book details

Douglas Wilson is a pastor in Moscow, Idaho, a father of three, and grandfather of seventeen. He is the author of numerous books, including Decluttering Your Marriage, Future Men, and How to Exasperate Your Wife.

AUTHOR: Douglas Wilson

PAGE COUNT: 124 pages

SIZE: 5x8"

BINDING: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1591280990

ISBN-13: 9781591280996

PUB. DATE: November 16, 2011

Use words. Love words. Live a life of words. Because you have been made words and are being saved by the Word.

Look Inside the Book or Listen on Canon+

Wordsmithy is for writers of every sort, whether experienced veterans, still just hoping, or somewhere in between. This book exhorts writers to explore the world, to read incessantly, to love mechanical helps, to be fine with being lousy (for a while), to learn languages, and to keep a commonplace book. Through a series of out-of-the-ordinary lessons, each with its own takeaway points and recommended readings, Douglas Wilson provides indispensable guidance, showing how to develop the writer's craft and the kind of life from which good writing comes.

What People Are Saying:

"Douglas Wilson can flat-out write. He has put this talent to use in writing over thirty books and countless articles, blog posts and the like. In his newest book, Wordsmithy, he offers up a series of hot tips for the writing life, a collection of lessons that he has learned along the way." -Tim Challies, The Gospel Coalition

"One of the most helpful guides to the writing life. The life at the end of that sentence is the most important part, as it’s advice about that which makes Wordsmithy valuable. As someone who is published, who has given himself over to the silly pretentiousness of being called a “writer,” who has struggled to keep a world beyond words, I was particularly challenged by Wilson’s advice. It’s the sort of book I wish I’d found two years ago, or better, ten or fifteen." -Matthew Lee Anderson, The End of Our Exploring

"This pithy book is fun to read" -Andy Naselli

"[Doug Wilson] will spin your head with prose and make you wonder how he did it. He won’t tell you how he did it, but he’ll write five more and then point to authors who do it all the time. He shows young writers still looking for their voice how to find one. You’ll read this book fast and go back to it again. Wilson has wisdom only a wise man knows." -John Starke, The Gospel Coalition

"Aspiring writers do not need another pandering, pat-on-the-back, feel-good writer's manual. They don't need any more cheap promises for zero-to-bestseller surefire success. What they need is something with no-nonsense substance, and Douglas Wilson offers it in Wordsmithy. Quick, punchy, and immensely wise, Wordsmithy is a cut-to-the-chase collection of important and sometimes unexpected tips for the writing life." -Brett McCracken, author, Hipster Christianity: When Church & Cool Collide

"This book just nails what it takes to be a writer. And it isn't just a matter of being a sensitive creative soul. A writer needs to live in the actual world, to 'read the kind of stuff you wish you could write,' and to love language. This book embodies what it preaches in its practicality, in how funny and fun to read it is, and in the way its words dance through the mind." -Gene Edward Veith, Provost and Professor of Literature, Patrick Henry College

"Wordsmithy is funny, memorable, and full of thought-provoking advice." -Credo Magazine, August 2012

Customer Reviews

Based on 9 reviews
67%
(6)
22%
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11%
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S
Sam S.
For any aspiring writer

This is a seminal work on much of what it takes to become a competent writer. I have given this book as gifts and will continue to do so. Highly recommend!

R
Rachel L.
Loved it!

So witty and so helpful! Husband and I are reading it together! Both enjoying it!

J
Jonathan K.
Delightfully witty and brilliantly practical

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who even has a pipe dream of being a writer one day. It is delightfully witty and brilliantly practical. I am going to pass this book off to one of my friends after I'm doing reading it!

H
Hillary K.

Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

J
Joel S.

Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

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Nathan L.
Useful and Insightful

In a concise manner Wilson provides seven main disciplines and seven subsets of each discipline towards becoming a better writer. He also recommends books which elucidate each tip and summarizes his points at the end of each chapter. The tips are clear, helpful, and applicable. Plus, Wilson is just witty and chucklesome in his writing. Truly some hot tips for the writing life within this book.

D
Dustin M.
Pretty good

I am enjoying the book. The only difficulty I'm having with it is there seems to be a lot of similes and phrases that would make sense to Doug but I'm having a difficult time understanding them because of I'm not in his head.

C
Carrie L.
So good, I had to buy it twice!

Two of our three children (thanks partially to the dual gifts of classical schooling and a librarian mother) enjoy writing enough that I could see them writing books in future. As the world is always in need of even more good stories, I try to encourage that, so I bought Wordsmithy for our daughter ages ago. Now that our youngest is old enough to read it, I went to borrow her copy for him, only to realize that the whole thing was covered in marginalia. She had obviously taken a lot from it - evidenced by the fact that one of her college professors emailed me to tell me she was one of the best writers that he had ever had in his class! So I bought another copy for our son, and trust he will benefit from it equally.

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Robin B.
Wordsmithy Made Me Chuckle and Want to Write

It was an easy read but an entertaining read as well. Also, it was packed with interesting tips to help a beginning writer.

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