Normally, my Reading Room posts are about a short story I’ve read, and what I learned from it.

Occasionally, however, a book comes along that I really think you should know about. This week, it’s The Business of Being A Writer by Jane Friedman.

Jane has been around the business of writing and publishing for a while now and really knows her stuff.

Here’s the start of the review I posted to Amazon:

I read a lot of self-help and inspirational books, and writing advice (heck, I write some). Most of it is the “Woohoo! You can do this!” type necessary to psyching yourself up to do the difficult business of wrangling words and sharing them.

This book is not one of those books.

This book is your older, wiser, best friend who loves you, and sits you down to say,

“Girl, I believe you can do it if you want to–you know I do. But first, let me show you what ‘it’ really looks like…

“OK, now are you sure you still want in? Yes? Well in that case… [Smiles spreads over her face. Eyes light up]

“Let me tell you how to do this part, then that part and oh! Here’s something you might not even have thought about…and if you’re going to do that, here’s how not to screw it up…

That’s the kind of book this is.

Read more and/or buy the book, here.

(Disclaimer: This is an affiliate link, meaning I get a kickback if you buy anything from Amazon today after clicking it. BUT you should feel free NOT to click on that link and instead go to your local bookstore or library and buy it from there or go to your fave online store and search for the book, instead. Also: I do know and respect Jane, professionally, but reviewed the book independently and bought my own copy.)