Birds along the River of Stones

a peregrine flies over the allotments, dashes over our heads and disappears behind the trees

*

a heron flies

across the gardens

the sound of windchimes

*

bare branches -

jackdaws gather

in pairs

Blackford Hill, Edinburgh

The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen

If you're a writer then what better way to start the New Year than by reading Sage Cohen's The Productive Writer?

I was delighted to win a review copy of this brilliant book! This is the best book I've read that offers general advice on writing (I've read some excellent books on how to write poetry, but most general writing advice books have left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed.) The basic aim of this book is to help the reader (who is assumed to also be a writer!) to become more productive in their writing. It covers such topics as time management, identifying and developing your platform as a writer, thinking productive thoughts and developing your networks in real life and online. All the way through we are given practical advice and exercises to work through. I haven't done the exercises yet, I read the book straight through from cover to cover and could hardly put it down. I aim to read it again early in the New Year and work through it slowly, doing all the exercises. To help me with this I'll use the Free Productivity Power Tools that can be found in the middle column of Sage's website.

However already I feel as though my productivity has increased. In the week since starting to read this book, I've written two ghazals (both of which have been accepted for publication already!), a review (already published), half a short story and several haiku or similar short poems. I've also co-incidentally heard about a couple of successes for pieces of writing I'd already completed. Plus I've given a successful public reading! So I really do feel like a Productive Writer! I would recommend this book to any writer who feels that they could achieve more. Unless you have bad eyesight. Yes my one criticism is that the text is small, that used in the exercises and highlighted case studies is tiny. My eyesight is fine for reading but I know people who would struggle to read this book, which is a shame.

The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen, published by Writers' Digest

I have previously posted this review on Goodreads, here.

winter roses

paint peeling

from the garden wall -

faded roses

for A River of Stones

Snow Collage

collages of leaves and seeds decorate the leftover snow

observed along the Water of Leith for A River of Stones

Clouds

Clouds from horizon to horizon. Hundreds of shades of grey swirl across the sky.

For A River of Stones

Fungi on Arthur's Seat

(photo by Crafty Green Boyfriend)

in the pile

of rabbit droppings -

an orange toadstool.

For River of Stones

(You can see the photos I took on today's walk here on this blog and here on Over Forty Shades, where I've started my series of photos of architectural photos, seeing as it seemed to be a popular idea when I mentioned it a few days ago!)

Arthurs Seat

We had a lovely walk round Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat today. Here are some of the photos I took with my new camera! As you can see it soon got dark but the early evening skies are just lovely, don't you think? We also saw some wonderful fungi, which I've written a separate post about here, for today's River of Stones contribution.