Transaction Publishers

“This book is not just for writers ... but for lovers of words and writing. For renewing my excitement about what I’ve chosen to do for a living, this book deserves 13 exclamation marks.” --The Writer Magazine "If every writer knew and loved words the way Richard Goodman knows and loves words, the world would be a fa...r better place." --Erin McKean, editor, Verbatim "A first rate handbook for aspiring authors ... a must for any community library collections gathering books on writing. " --Midwest Book Review "A top pick for any library strong in teaching creative writing, whether at the college or high school grade levels." --California Bookwatch Richard Goodman’s marvelous book, The Soul of Creative Writing, will instruct, delight, edify, challenge, reassure, and guide any student of writing to a personal best. Goodman’s sympathy for the writer’s dilemma, the warmth of his urging, the brightness of his enthusiasms all remind us that courage lies inside encouragement. Like the best teaching from the most inspired teachers, it’s simply invaluable. --Molly Peacock, author of Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems, and a memoir, Paradise, Piece by Piece Any writer should read all these delicate, dear essays who wants to write anything better than she or he has done before, be it fiction, essay, poem or merely sentence. Who would guess that ideas about language and literature could be expressed so gracefully? Richard Goodman's essays do not blanket the subject of writing; rather they offer us peep holes through which we glimpse sunny mysteries. Blink and look again. --Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Abundance, a Novel of Marie Antoinette and Ahab’s Wife "Who needs another book on writing? If it's this one, you do. Richard Goodman examines—with the same curiosity, wit, and good sense that characterized his gem of a memoir, French Dirt—the soul of the writer's life. There is so much to admire about this book: Goodman's respect for the secret strength of words, his awe of "the nerve of poetry," his ear for the music of prose, his love of the puzzles and pleasures of punctuation, and his deep understanding of the malleability of technique. I loved this book and will keep it nearby when my own well has run dry and I need inspiration, prodding, or reminding that writing is both vocation and delight, worthy of a life's dedication." --K. L. Cook, author of The Girl from Charnelle and Last Call Read More