Book Review - So, You Want To Be A Writer? by Vicki Hambleton and Cathleen Greenwood

Vicki Hambleton and Cathleen Greenwood came together to write a fantastic book for young adult aspiring writers. So, You Want To Be A Writer? How To Get Published, and Maybe Even Make It BIG! is so wonderful that even I, at nearly 36 years of age, found it to be entertaining, informative and useful. In fact, while initially I was planning on giving this book to my husband to put in his classroom after I reviewed it, I have now directed him to purchase a copy for the class, as I plan to keep my copy as my own personal writer's reference!

You may be wondering what's so great about this book that I couldn't find searching around the Internet or many of the writing books I have already read and put up on my reference shelf, well, here are a couple of things that set this book apart:

• The Voice: While this book is intended for a younger audience, it never talks down to its reader. The content is rich and uses the terminology of the publishing world while introducing it clearly and simply. Also, at the end of the book, there is a glossary containing all of the pertinent vocabulary!
• The Design: The book can be read cover to cover for a reader who wishes to learn everything they need to know to get started in their writing career, or the reader can jump into which ever chapter(s) s/he wishes to learn more about. In this way, the book will end up being a handy reference for all who own it.
• The Anecdotes and Author Profiles: Within every chapter, there are anecdotes from established authors about their own experiences as well as profiles of young writers demonstrating how they found success in writing. With these sections the reader is introduced to the diverse potential and career options for those interested in a writing life.
• The Full Scope: At 192 pages, this book is short and sweet, but within that small package the entire scope of the writing life is exposed. The twelve chapters of the book cover everything from the "Tools, Time and Turf" needed for writing, selecting a genre to write, finding a career to match your writing style, the process of getting published, and even has writing exercises and resources that the reader can continue to use over and over again.

There was only one problem I found with this book after I finished reading it: it should have been published 20+ years ago!!

Personally, I think every middle school and high school writing teacher should have this book available as a reference for the aspiring writers in their classes. If you are not a writing teacher, but you happen to know a young aspiring writer (or you are one yourself), this is a great gift idea. Let's let our young writers know that they can begin living their writing lives now!