u/BonesawGaming

I was talking to someone about this book on this subreddit last week and I wanted to write a longer review for folks who might find it helpful, so you can find it here on my substack. I hope this doesn't count as self-promotion but if so let me know and I'll post it in the weekly.

Short summary is it's a book about how to set really granular habits designed to make writing a lot as easy as possible. It's aimed at an academic audience but despite that I'd really recommend it for non-academics or even folks who are trying to increase their output in some trackable habit other than writing. It's a short and easy read so overall I'd say it's a very valuable book. I'm trying to abide by his system so I'll probably share an update down the line with some results.

My new job has me a bit behind my pace last year as it's not as convenient to listen to audiobooks as it was for me then, but still decent progress by my own standard and a marked improvement from before I found this sub!

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens): 5/5

An actual masterpiece, almost not that much to say about it. It's beautifully written, sincere, humorous, sad, it just hits on so much in such a short story. Patrick Stewart narrating the audiobook brings it to another level. I expect that I will revisit this frequently.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge): 3/5

One of those classics that just didn't hit for me. I can appreciate the beauty of the prose and the concept of the story is interesting but it just never really hooked me and it seems even to drag despite being very short. Probably speaking from my own shortcoming as a reader but this just wasn't it for me. Iron Maiden did more with the material.

The Tommyknockers (Stephen King): 4/5

I don't think I've read King before which is a shame because I really appreciate his sensibility for combining the comedic and the grotesque. A ton of great characters and great ideas sprawl across a narrative that stayed surprisingly grounded in small town life instead of going cosmic. Edward Herrmann narrates the audiobook and he really nails the sort of townies that fill this book.

On Writing (Stephen King): 4/5

It took a surprisingly long amount of time to get to the part where he actually gives advice on writing, which is what I came for, but the story of his younger years is entertaining enough. The sections on writing were great, generally advice that I'd consider well-suited for many including myself. It seems relatively consistent with some of Vonnegut's advice on the topic, which I'd always found to be pretty strong. The last section about him almost dying was completely unexpected as I didn't know this even had happened but overall it was all very interesting.