THE ICE PICK

Writing as Adventure: a Writer’s Companion, by Varda One. [Philadelphia]: Xlibris Corporation, 2001. 159 p. $17.84. ISBN 1-4010-1392-9.

Whether you are a beginner, amateur, or a professional writer there may be days when you wonder what you’re doing and if it’s worth it.

This book is written for those days and for any other days when you feel the need for some inspiration or encouragement or when you just want to know that someone else understands.

A "collection of comforts written in a personal style," as if by a friend, this book is filled with practical advice, personal tips, passed-along wisdom, and encouraging stories. As with any collection like this, it contains some repetition and is best used when you "dip in anywhere," rather than trying to read it straight through.

Some of the things may make you laugh, or even cry, but Varda One writes of the experiences common to authors everywhere. Her advice is pithy and direct, and always encouraging.

Varda discusses everything from the "woodwork angels"--people who "seem to come out of the woodwork . . . bearing information, guidance, suggestions," at just the right moment--to the joys and pains of the paying and non-paying marketplace and how she handles the inevitable rejections.

She talks of talent and fear, of believing in yourself, of motivation and persistence, of the burden of perfectionism, of style and writing as process, of feedback and readers and the writing life, and of scheduling and the luck of timing which may depend more on your own openness or resistence than to chance.

But above all she speaks of the joy of writing, of allowing yourself to write or not to write, of telling your inner critic "Later!" and giving "yourself permission to be trite, inconsistent, even chaotic" until you get the piece down.

She warns about the envy of other writers that can hobble or destroy you, and the death of individuality that can come from crippling schedules or conformist jobs. "The marketplace," says Varda One, "requires that you serve the needs of others; the muse demands that you be faithful to your inner voice."

This is not a how-to-write book, in the sense that you will not find guidance here on how to handle viewpoint or construct a plot, although I learned a neat way to handle telepathic speech, by enclosing the dialogue in .

But if you seek encouragement and enjoy learning what other writers have discovered about writing and marketing, then this wonderful book belongs on your shelf or on your desk. It would make a nice Christmas present for yourself or another writer you know.

As Varda One says, "Writing is an adventure into the unknown. Writing is confronting fears." And, "just as my friend made a statement that helped me, maybe something I write will click with you. Don’t quit before the miracle."

I very highly recommend this wonderful book.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Dec. 2002; reprinted Feb. 2003. Also reprinted in The Write Stuff Book Review, Jan. 2003.}