The Future of this Blog
I'm sorry to have been absent. I had to re-think the approach of this blog (and I'm not sure I'm done with it!). I've however come to and come to the conclusion that the blog as it was didn't work. There was nothing of real interest in the there (except the book reviews, which a lot of you liked!), so it has to change track. The new blog will focus a lot more on two specific things: 1.) MY thoughts on writing and 2.) Reviews/Analyses of books
The changes in style mentioned above will be tagged in each post. There will be three primary tags used:
FAQ: This is the 'my thoughts on writing' part. I'll be taking questions writers frequently ask and answer them with my opinion.
Review: non-fiction and fiction reviews of books I liked and think might be worth your while as well
Update/Current WIP/WIP: This is where everything related to my own stories goes.
This in turn means that there are really only three things this blog will focus on:
1. Writing-related craft questions
2. Book reviews
3. Updates on new stories I plan to publish
I expect the writing craft questions to be published once a week and the book reviews whenever it's relevant. I don't always read good books (unfortunately some turn out to suck after I'm 70% in - Hello Into the Drowning Deep!) and won't waste your time reviewing something useless.
The updates on my own stories as well are not really quantifiable at this point. I have a vague schedule with vague deadlines and that's the system that works best for me - but it also means it's hard to tell when something new will be out UNLESS I'm working on an edit right then and there. (For example: Once I start editing The Torn Planet I can be certain it'll be done in about two weeks. This also means the publishing schedule - taking account as well the time it will take my cover artists to create a cover - will be about fixed.)
As another effect of this re-structuring of the blog I'll also be cutting out a lot of the filler and make this a Busy Bee's Writing Blog (because who the heck has time to read through 2k words of blabla before the blogger gets to the point?). This means I'll stop wasting words just to make the blog post long enough to 'count' (in whatever arbitrary fashion). Instead the posts will be concise and details can always be added later should any of them come up - just like editing any book!
Today we'll start with a post on How you can know if you're good at the writing process. It should be up by day's end so check back here soon or follow me on Twitter (@jasmingelinck) or subscribe to my e-mail list (on the right-side sidebar) to receive direct and immediate updates!
WriteBot.
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Saturday, January 5, 2019
The Best of Non-Fiction 2018 (Part II)
Hey folks!
Today's entry is an addition to my recent The Best Non-Fiction Books of 2018 post. I wrote the other on December 20 so there was still plenty of time to read more - which I did. This one is supposed to simply serve as an update to highlight the last three non-fiction books I managed to finish in 2018 still.
Here we go - starting with the most useful book first.
(Note: the key to this list is as before the colour. Red = good. Light red = amazing. Black = don't bother with this one.)
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy: This one was great and definitely deserves the light red colour. In fact it should probably be pink to do it justice.
The title of the book refers to its content: Do your most important task (the biggest frog) first. I wrote a full blog post about it here: Review of Eat That Frog but for the sake of this list the gist of why it is so impactful is that:
a.) Brian Tracy does not waste words. He starts with relevant information and sticks to it. He does not add any fluff to his text and stays fully on course throughout. This is why the book is only 100 pages long (depending of course on your format) but it's so densely packed with information on how to get started and finish your most important projects it's 100+% worth the money spent on it.
b.) Tracy's tips are practical and can be used immediately. Do you want to become more productive in your most important work (your biggest frog)? Then read this book.
The Hungry Brain by Stephan J. Guyenet: This is a bit more in the health niche - specifically how the brain regulates how hungry we feel at any given point and what drives people to overeat. About 60% of it are incredibly useful and highly informative but the last three or so chapters drag. Here's a complete Review of The Hungry Brain. I personally read this book because I tend to stuff my face if there's something tasty around. It's gotten much better in recent years (after I started focusing on my health) but I notice that when there's something really tasty it's often very difficult to stop myself eating more than my stomach feels comfortable with. This book then was a way for me to understand why this happens (when consciously I don't want/need any more food but I still feel the urge to eat) and it did it's job! Recommended also if you're trying to lose weight!
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**** by Mark Manson: I'm not going to say much about this. I already did a whole review and my opinion hasn't changed. This book is definitely overrated. It's not 'cool' or useful simply because it has a swear word in the title and foul language throughout. It simply re-chews and re-chews what other people have said much better already. Don't buy it. (Or do if you think you'll like it. It's your money!)
These three books about sum up my reading in the last two weeks of 2018 (good bye good year!). I read a fourth non-fiction book actually but it's even less worth talking about than The Subtle Art. It was so generic and yada yada (with the author actually recommending things like neurolinguistic programming (which is not scientifically backed to be effective at all) and psychosynthesis (which deals with personality and the human soul - the soul as if it's a scientific thing one can measure)).
Anyway! That about sums up my experience with non-fiction in 2018. I've recently read another non-fiction (my first this year!) which was Seth Godin's This is Marketing (The colour key doesn't count for this one!). It's not as good as The Dip but there will be a blog post about it on Monday where I'll be explaining my opinion on it in more detail.
What have you been reading so far? Do you have any suggestions as to books I might like considering what I've read in the last year? I'm always happy to receive suggestions! (Although my reading list is already chock-full.)
I hope you had a great first week of 2019!
WriteBot.
Today's entry is an addition to my recent The Best Non-Fiction Books of 2018 post. I wrote the other on December 20 so there was still plenty of time to read more - which I did. This one is supposed to simply serve as an update to highlight the last three non-fiction books I managed to finish in 2018 still.
Here we go - starting with the most useful book first.
(Note: the key to this list is as before the colour. Red = good. Light red = amazing. Black = don't bother with this one.)
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy: This one was great and definitely deserves the light red colour. In fact it should probably be pink to do it justice.
The title of the book refers to its content: Do your most important task (the biggest frog) first. I wrote a full blog post about it here: Review of Eat That Frog but for the sake of this list the gist of why it is so impactful is that:
a.) Brian Tracy does not waste words. He starts with relevant information and sticks to it. He does not add any fluff to his text and stays fully on course throughout. This is why the book is only 100 pages long (depending of course on your format) but it's so densely packed with information on how to get started and finish your most important projects it's 100+% worth the money spent on it.
b.) Tracy's tips are practical and can be used immediately. Do you want to become more productive in your most important work (your biggest frog)? Then read this book.
The Hungry Brain by Stephan J. Guyenet: This is a bit more in the health niche - specifically how the brain regulates how hungry we feel at any given point and what drives people to overeat. About 60% of it are incredibly useful and highly informative but the last three or so chapters drag. Here's a complete Review of The Hungry Brain. I personally read this book because I tend to stuff my face if there's something tasty around. It's gotten much better in recent years (after I started focusing on my health) but I notice that when there's something really tasty it's often very difficult to stop myself eating more than my stomach feels comfortable with. This book then was a way for me to understand why this happens (when consciously I don't want/need any more food but I still feel the urge to eat) and it did it's job! Recommended also if you're trying to lose weight!
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**** by Mark Manson: I'm not going to say much about this. I already did a whole review and my opinion hasn't changed. This book is definitely overrated. It's not 'cool' or useful simply because it has a swear word in the title and foul language throughout. It simply re-chews and re-chews what other people have said much better already. Don't buy it. (Or do if you think you'll like it. It's your money!)
These three books about sum up my reading in the last two weeks of 2018 (good bye good year!). I read a fourth non-fiction book actually but it's even less worth talking about than The Subtle Art. It was so generic and yada yada (with the author actually recommending things like neurolinguistic programming (which is not scientifically backed to be effective at all) and psychosynthesis (which deals with personality and the human soul - the soul as if it's a scientific thing one can measure)).
Anyway! That about sums up my experience with non-fiction in 2018. I've recently read another non-fiction (my first this year!) which was Seth Godin's This is Marketing (The colour key doesn't count for this one!). It's not as good as The Dip but there will be a blog post about it on Monday where I'll be explaining my opinion on it in more detail.
What have you been reading so far? Do you have any suggestions as to books I might like considering what I've read in the last year? I'm always happy to receive suggestions! (Although my reading list is already chock-full.)
I hope you had a great first week of 2019!
WriteBot.
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