The Bottom Line
Pros
- At times witty, at times endearing look into the writing life
- Writers are able to benefit from Shapiro's advice, while still relaxing with the less formal memoir
- Juicy peek into literary New York
Cons
- Highly personal nature of the novel may lose readers' interest once in a while
- Dwells more on WHO she knows, whereas readers want to know WHAT she knows
Description
- "Only As good As Your Word, Writing Lessons From My Favorite Literary Gurus"
- Author: Susan Shapiro
- Publisher: Seal Press
- Released: Fall 2007
- Approximately 400+ pages
Guide Review - Shapiro's "Only As Good As Your Word"
Although Shapiro’s style tends towards the "friend-to-friend" conversational tone, there are times when this memoir comes across as downright fierce in the “I am going to get published” way with which many freelance writers and novelist are quite familiar.
Telling her story through her relationships with a series of mentors, Shapiro traces her beginnings from a stalwart Jewish family in Detroit, all the way through to the juicy details of her dealings with New York’s publishing royalty. Along the way, readers are entertained, and even taught, by her sardonic musings.
At times, though, it’s these musings that make a reader want to turn the page to the next mentor/chapter, as Shapiro tends to pick apart each relationship a la Sigmund Freud. It feels a little like the time your best friend gave you TMI, too much information, and it was that friendship- the friendly voice Shapiro has- that makes me want to ask her to move on a bit because she's sharing too much, and doing so quite subjectively.
However, if freelancers can have patience through the first couple mentors, they’ll find a great source of information later in the book as Shapiro shares some of the insights garnered from her publishing journey, and from her own writing group.
Overall, a great read that teaches writers quite a bit without too much effort, this is a good bedside book for freelancers.
