Need Some Writer's First Aid?

I first met Kristi Holl back in 2004 at the Chatauqua Writers' Workshop, where she was on the faculty and critiqued my novel. Right away, I thought she was someone whose advice I could trust - it was clearly from long experience! I bought a copy of her book, Writer's First Aid, and was impressed - here was a book about the writing life and how to manage it. Lots of what she wrote in WFA stuck with me, especially the stuff on writing better by being a healthy writer.

Now, after four years of thrice-weekly posts on her Writer's First Aid blog (which has 60,000 subscribers!), she's published a new collection - More Writer's First Aid, and I was lucky enough to read an advance copy recently. So then I had to ask her a few questions!

l. Who is this book aimed at?

It may sound presumptuous to say this, but I truly think the book is aimed at all writers, no matter where they are in their career. Maybe because it has surprised me personally, but over the years I’ve realized that some writing issues never change: finding time, dealing with rejection, juggling families and day jobs, and all the other life issues that can derail our writing dreams. Because I write about those subjects, and those things apply to every writer I know, I believe the book is for all writers.

2. What kinds of aspects of writing does it cover?

The 48 articles are grouped under four subject headings: ENJOYING THE WRITING LIFE—EVERY DAY, WRITING HABITS THAT HELP YOU, A WRITER’S EMOTIONS and FAMILY MATTERS. I cover similar kinds of topics to my first writing book, WRITER’S FIRST AID, but in addition, I felt the “family matters” section was important to add. So many writers today are juggling family members along with their writing—from babies to adult children who have moved home. Other writers are dealing with family members who are sick, those newly retired, you name it. And unless we learn how to set boundaries and juggle our writing schedule to meet family demands, we are too likely to give up the writing—or be miserable while doing it. My goal is for writers to enjoy their writing life! Besides family and health issues, I also wanted to cover areas that weren’t an issue when I wrote the first writing book: social media, e-mail and Internet issues, online platforms—and the writing time it can steal from us.

3. Why did you write it?

I have heard so much in recent months about the “e-book revolution” and the future of e-books and how Kindles (and other formats) are outselling paper books online, etc. I wanted to try doing an e-book/Kindle version and see!

4. What do you hope writers will gain from reading it?

We writers are all in this together. You don’t stop having writing issues to deal with just because you get published—or even published a lot. We all deal with disappointment, writer jealousy, emotional and physical pain, procrastination, tiredness… Study after study has shown that the writers who succeed are NOT the writers with the most talent and are NOT the writers who “know someone important in publishing.” They are simply the writers who didn’t give up. I hope readers gain a “don’t give up” attitude from reading MORE WRITERS’S FIRST AID.

So if you want a copy direct from Kristi, click here. And if you want a Kindle version (because of course you have a Kindle!), you'll find it on Amazon. Yes, I know Kristi personally, and yes, I do recommend it!