You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffe Shop: Scalzi on Writing
Maybe a year ago, I took the conscious decision not to buy writing books anymore. Not because they’re not useful, but as somebody once said (I think it was Cory Doctorow) the usefulness of those books tend to exponentially decrease as you read more and more of them (or was he talking about writing workshops?) Anyhow, I stopped browsing at writing books. Not that there is nothing left for me to learn (hell no!) but new books I pick up consist of 90% of the same old information. There is no point for me re-reading this over and over. My time is much better invested actually writing instead of reading about writing. So why did I picked up You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing? (Coffee Shop, from now on, ok?) Let me explain my choice…
First of all, I’m a recent fan of John Scalzi. I read Old Man’s War not too long ago and really enjoyed his style, just like I enjoy reading his blog every now and then. When he mentioned a book about writing, I was interested right away. The title did the rest.
Coffee Shop is a book about writing but, to be more precise, it’s about the business of writing. John Scalzi has been a full time writer for many years and he knows what he is talking about. His style is frank, his humor corrosive. He does not hesitate to talk about hot or controversial topics and he does a really good job at it. His vision of writing is pragmatic and seems to align with mine on many aspects. If you’re looking for a book on Your muse, or the art of writing, leave Coffee Shop on the shelf.
Coffee Shop is a collection of some of the best writing-related post from his blog. There is not a lot of new material in this book but unless you read The Whatever on a regular basis, it doesn’t really matter. The book is quite actual, which is both good and bad. It’s good in the sense that the information it contains is fresh and up-to-date, but I don’t expect the book to still have this sense of freshness to it twenty or thirty years from now. (Mind you, it probably wasn’t written with this in mind.)
I’m closing this book with the feeling that a career in writing is doable but represent a lot of work. I won’t quit my day job tomorrow (Hey! I love writing code… Does it count as writing?) but I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking writing can be approached as a business. (No, I did not believe I was the only one thinking that way.) I did not had any real epiphany and I don’t have a favorite chapter but I still enjoyed the book very much, if only for Scalzi’s style. It’s a fun book.
Note: This book was published as a limited edition hardcover and was out-of-print the same day it was released and, as far as I know, there is no plan for a re-print in the near future. I was lucky to get a copy from Amazon.ca (here’s the link.) As of today (2007/04/12), the Canadian web site says something like 1 to 2 weeks for delivery so there might still be a copy lying around in Amazon’s warehouse.
Note: Subterranean Press has ordered a second printing for the book.
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