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| Snoopys Guide to the Writing Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Barnaby Conrad
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $2.00
You Save: $12.99 (87%)
New (11) Used (9) from $1.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 554077
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 1582973237
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.02
UPC: 035313109591
EAN: 9781582973234
ASIN: 1582973237
Publication Date: July 15, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Snoopy sits atop his dog house, banging out stories on a manual typewriter. Usually they begin "It was a dark and stormy night..." Always they're rejected. In Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life--a wonderful gift for writers--a roundup of 30 famous writers and entertainers respond in short essays to their favorite Snoopy "at the typewriter" strip. Each essay focuses on how the strip presents an aspect of writing life--getting started, getting rejected, searching for new ideas, and more--everything that beginning and professional writers deal with on a daily basis. The essays are light and sometimes humorous, but all of them offer insight and inspiration for writers working at any level. The book presents a powerful lineup of contributors, including: Ray Bradbury William F. Buckley, Jr. Julia Child Elizabeth George Sue Grafton Evan Hunter Elmore Leonard Danielle Steel And the Beagle himself! Editor Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz (son of the late Charles Schulz) provide introductory chapters that address the writing life and how Snoopy's experience--his tenacity and resilience--can inspire us all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 "Stories aren't written ... they're rewritten" December 31, 2006
'Snoopy's Guide To The Writing Life' is not the most in depth "how to" writing book you'll come across, but it certainly is the most charming. Illustrated liberally with Charles M. Schulz's disarmingly adorable beagle, using all comic strips from which Snoopy's desire to become a novelist was based on, the book also offers creative and inspirational tips from famous authors from all genres of writing.
Ray Bradbury, Danielle Steel, Clive Cussler, Julia Child, Ed McBain, Sidney Sheldon, Sue Grafton, Elmore Leonard, and many, many more. Whether you feel the calling to write non-fiction, general fiction, Sci-Fi, cookbooks, biographies, or short stories, there is a word of advice pertinent to your chosen genre. This book isn't really a "how to" book but rather motivation and encouragement from authors who've paid their debts. One of my favorite pieces was Jack Canfield's, on accumulating rejection slips. He points out many famous authors and pieces of literature that were rejected many times over before being accepted. Just don't give up.
This lighthearted book should be included in every writer's bookshelf. Next time you're stuck, lighten up, take it off the shelf, and help yourself to some inspiration. There is also a lovely foreword by Monte Schulz, Charles's son, in which he remembers his father, and a great introduction by Charles's long time friend Barnaby Conrad, with remembrances of one of the greatest cartoonists of all time. Don't miss out on this treasure, whether you are a writer or not. Enjoy!
The Ultimate Gift for the Writer in Your Life! September 17, 2006
Do you have a writer in your life? A child graduating from college or high school or even elementary school? A cousin or nephew who spends his or her days dreaming up worlds to explore? Even, dare I say it, a Harry Potter fanficcer? Then Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life is the ideal book to give your writer, on birthdays, on holidays, at graduation.
This is as much a book about life as it is a book about writing. This isn't a book about "the process." The book won't help you put words on the page, or help you fix your grammar, or describe the best ways of building air-tight plots. What Snoopy's Guide does is far more interesting and far more important--it takes twenty-odd writers and has them talk about about their writing processes, their wins and their losses, and each writer relates their experiences in some way back to Peanuts, which puts their experiences on terms everyone can relate to. Every writer has faced the terror of the blank page, or the title that won't come, or the vagaries of the market. Rather than discuss writing, Snoopy's Guide discusses the writing life, and that makes it a valuable resource to treasure.
If you need a gift, Snoopy's Guide would be ideal. I should know--I gave one as a gift, and it was perfect.
it was a dark and stormy night July 16, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I luved this book. I read the whole thing and then bought it to take it home. It was inspiring to read what the authors contributed.
My motivation level has been increased! July 20, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I just loved this book! I didn't buy it because I was hoping it would tell me how to get published...I bought it for the motivational comic strips!
How many times I would love to write a letter to an editor that says, I have just written the best story ever but I'm not going to mail it to you...instead you can come and get it...giggle...
If you are looking for a "how-to" book, then this isn't it, but if you are looking for a way to laugh at the whole process of writing, submitting and waiting for the good/bad letter to come..then this is the book for you...
I have many of the comic strips hanging at my computer, so when I get writer's block, I read the many "It was a dark and stormy night" and I seem to laugh a little and then start writing even more...
It was a dark and stormy review... March 25, 2004
"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!
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