Only as Good as Your Word: Writing Lessons from My Favorite Literary Gurus - Softcover

Shapiro, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580052207 ISBN 13: 9781580052207

Publisher: Seal Press, 2007

Synopsis

In this funny, moving, and revealing ride, Susan Shapiro recounts her obsessive quest for success as a professional writer and the beloved mentors who saved her life—and career—along the way.

Growing up in the Midwest, Susan Shapiro knew at a young age that all she wanted in life was to become a writer. And so, as soon as she graduated from college, she headed straight to New York City, determined to break into the biz. A few hard knocks later, she learned that it takes more than being a good writer to make a living at it-the most successful professional writers, she discovered, have great mentors to support, promote, advise, admonish, inform, infuriate, and sometimes give them a good kick in the pants along the way. 

Only As Good As Your Word is a rollicking chronicle of Shapiro's coming of age as a journalist and author. It's also a revealing memoir that proves what Shapiro's been saying all along: The most important lessons about writing really are, at heart, important lessons about life. A must-read for all writers in the publishing trenches, from the very green to the veterans.

About this title

About the Author

Sue Shapiro is the author of Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Lighting Up, and Secrets of a Fix-up Fanatic. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Village Voice, Nation, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Jane, People, US Weekly, and Salon.com. She lives with her husband in Greenwich Village, where she teaches writing at NYU and the New School.

Reviews

Since moving to New York in 1981 at age 20, Shapiro has realized her dream: she has written articles for the New York Times, Washington Post, Salon.com and Glamour, and three memoirs. In this lively, inspiring and dishy memoir/advice book, she shares the secrets of her success, some learned the hard way, others gleaned from her stellar array of mentors, including Ian Frazier and Howard Fast (who was married to her mother's cousin). Fast's wife, Bette, also provided young Susan with advice: get your own career and money, so the men can't control you.... But cooking and wearing a dress won't make you a Barbie doll. Fast himself cautioned her against self-indulgence: just get to work. Remember, a plumber never gets plumber's block. Shapiro made other connections on her own as a grad student at NYU, which led to a job as a researcher at the New Yorker, which led to more connections. Not everybody's going to have a bestselling relative, but everybody has a high school English teacher—that was Shapiro's first guru—and she makes it clear that she learned as much from him as she did from her high-profile mentors. (Oct.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Seal Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580052207
• ISBN 13: 9781580052207
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 410