Block

But better than that, she offers such a wide array of "tricks" and tips for beating writer's block that something HAS to work! If the first method doesn't work, try a different method. She doesn't advocate just one thing, which is the problem I had with a different book about writer's block (the writer just offered one systematic solution. It didn't work for me, so the book was useless). With this one, I had to keep putting it down every few pages to scribble down new ideas it gave me.

That was amazing. I had been feeling uninspired and like I was running out of new ideas, but this book made me realize how to open my "writer's eyes" and find ideas in everyday circumstances. It energized me, like jumpstarting a battery, so I felt compelled to actually write down my ideas and start drafting them instead of letting them sit in my brain until I forgot them.

It's such a personal book and manages to weave effortlessly between humor and serious issues, even making me laugh when the author is discussing a very painful experience.

I think the biggest strength of this book is that it teaches writers to let go of all the guilt and burdens they have placed on themselves, or let others place on them. I can't write every day, and I haven't been published much yet, so I was afraid to call myself a "writer," but the author made me feel like that was okay, and in doing so, I got less anxious and self-conscious about the act of writing itself. I have written more in the past two weeks than I have all year, just because I feel better about it and less worried about making everything "perfect."

I knew from the author's website that I was going to like her style, but this just went so far beyond my expectations. I now feel like I have a brilliant teacher sitting on my bookshelf whenever I need her. At this rate, that won't be too often, because I can't imagine ever running out of ideas again! It's brilliant. Buy it.

For example, under a section entitled "Where to Get Ideas," Glatzer writes: "Another myth is that great ideas are supposed to just come to writers. Like we're all just walking around, minding our own business when wham! A great idea falls out of the heavens and lands in our brains. I, on the other hand, am idea-challenged. The idea fairy rarely visits my home without my asking. I have to invite her, cajole her, and then sometimes bang her over the head with a stick and drag her unconscious body into my abode without my neighbors calling the police. My muse is my mortgage."

Her book, her advice and her writing style will inspire writers everywhere not to give up -- no matter what. Her book is also one that writers will return to again and again if not for advice and support then for a great pick-me-up when the writing gets tough.

As a Performance Management consultant I've reengineered appraisal systems based on employee and management needs, so the book's title put me off initially. Performance mesurement and feedback is critical in a high performing organization. But the authors' approach is right on target. Organizations should NOT stop measuring, but measure and feed back accurately within an adult-to-adult context. The data on how humans behave puts traditional PA systems to shame. What a waste of resources!

Performance Management systems can be reengineered at little direct cost and return REAL individual, group and organizational performance improvement. I've found that nearly all PA systems are compensation rather than performance focused, and actually keep employees from the accountability the organization seeks. What's worse, these systems are often the only source for employee feedback!

Coens and Jenkins capture and dispel all the well-meaning assumptions of traditional Performance Appraisals, while also providing solid PERFORMANCE-BASED alternatives. For example, and with no apologies to the lawyers, individual performance documentation is only needed when there is a serious performance problem, and that is quite rare. Positive performance data is available in other, more productive ways. Why burden the entire organization, demotivate employees, and waste valuable resources when treating adults as adults can actually improve BOTTOM LINE PERFORMNACE?

The book is not for everyone, but managers who have always felt sick about using their company's PA process will be delighted to know that they were right all along. People know how to do this, and company bureaucracy just gets in the way.

No business has extra people or money. I've effectively used these same principles for years. Thank you, Tom and Mary, for documenting a process for 21st century Performance Management.

Coens and Jenkins want us to get busy on working together towards improving processes and the system of delivering value to our customers, and give up the quest for finally pinpointing, once and for all, who the "1"s, "2"s, "3"s, etc. are in the organization. They want us to quit thinking that a person's value and performance can somehow be reduced to a number. They explain how this is a fallacy and illusion, given the impossibility of separating out the individual's contribution from the contribution of the system or environment that she works in, inherent measurement and judgment biases, and organizational politics. More importantly, such reductionism is degrading and demoralizing to the individual. And "we trivialize an individual's work, often involving heart and soul, from something unique and wonderful into a cold and sterile numerical rating that purportedly signifies the person's total contribution."

The approach the authors take is to first surface, then examine, and ultimately attack the assumptions underlying appraisal, and then to build alternatives from "newer, more hopeful assumptions." They are thorough and convincing in making the case to abolish performance appraisal.

W. Edwards Deming, who mentored Jenkins, was often asked, "But if we eliminate performance appraisal, then what will we replace it with?" He would reply, "Try leadership." Whereas Coens and Jenkins would surely support such a true and succinct response, they also offer specific guidelines and methodology for an organization to wean itself from the nonproductive and harmful anachronism of performance appraisal. For example, they describe how to effectively "debundle" management concerns, such as motivation, coaching, counseling, retention, discharge, goal setting, pay, promotion, and discipline, which are often packaged as part of the appraisal process.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who values dignity, respect, and trust in the workplace, and who believes that holding such values is crucial in striving for true organizational excellence.

Witch Baby is abut a witch wh was left on Weezie Bat and my secert lover man's door step when she was a baby. She does't know where she really belongs and who he really parents are. Now all she wants to know is where she belongs.This is a good book because if you are looking for where you belong also then you can relate to her feelings. Witch Baby knows how to turn a regular day int a fantastic adventure. Through out the book she goes through an amazing amout of twists and turns. She always has a camera with her so if something exitings happens then she will have it on film.

This is a dazzling book that everyone should read. So put on your cowboy boots, rollerskates and bat shaped glasses and go join Witch Baby in all of her adventures. You might even find something you have been looking for.

Through heartbreaking and inspiring stories from his own life and practice, he does nothing less than illuminate the path to every writer's essential, ongoing, transformative process. He even replicates sessions of client-therapist dialogue so clearly and beautifully that they make you sit up and say, "Hey, that's me he's talking to!"

This is a well-crafted book about the "doing" of writing, one that makes you proud to be a writer, makes you want to write better, and then gives you specific tools to do exactly that.

Also especially loved what Palumbo had to say about writers' envy of other successful writers. Until I read this, I thought it was my own dirty, little secret. Now I know that all the rest of you hope my books does as lousy as I hope yours does...

If you love to write, you'll like this book. If you hate to write, you may like it even more.

Here's an example of one of the exercises: "There are 30,000 Americans who drink more than 10 cups of coffee per day. Write a story about one of them." I think the author's name makes a 673rd bonus exercise that I am adding here: "Write a science fiction story with an alien creature named Rekulak." (Sorry, Jason, but you got my imagination going!)

Some of the assignments are geared to creative or fictional writing and others towards reportage or memoir. I love that--it's a bit like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. Since the pages aren't numbered, and the thickness of the book makes it hard to spread open, I use Post-It(tm) flags to mark any I think I want to go back to. But it's probably better to use the book like that box of chocolates and just take the vanilla cream along with the toffee that sticks to your dental work. If you do one of these every day, in two years, who knows what you will be writing? I intend to find out.

Of all the books dedicated toward jump-starting a stalled mind, this is definitely the smallest, and possibly the most inexpensive, but in terms of value per page, no other "idea" book can match this one.

As previous reviewers have said, after a few times through the book, the spine makes it look like a kind of floppy Rolodex, but it is a great way to give yourself that extra edge when there's nothing else around to fire your imagination.

Suprisingly, I've found this book to be fine source of inspiration. Great for those days when you are stuck in a chapter (or story, or article, or concept for an ad campaign) and you really need something to kickstart your creative brain. Also, oddly enough, it acts as a sort of oracle. I always seem to find exactly the word or phrase or question I need to fix my literary problem when I turn to this little gem.

Sure, it's corny. Yes, it has gotten as splayed as a revival minister's bible. But it works! Give it to the writers you know -- or to your own inner muse.

It starts off with a bang. The first lesson is to drop the bags right on the floor. Get used to it, because you'll be doing a lot of that when you first start learning.

The writing is humorous. And best of all it works like a charm.
Very easy if you keep at it. I can now juggle four things at a time and haven't lost a step. Once you learn, it is difficult to forget. Highly recommended!

You can't beat the value of the Klutz products [another website] for juggling.

When I went to purchase this item at a major chain book store, the clerk implied they did not stock it because it was a slow seller. Thus, I had to special order it after being told they had "plenty in the warehouse".

What a shame that the DS9 TV show and this companion book don't (generally) receive the accolades that they so richly deserve. Both simply represent the best-of-the-best in their respective fields.

This book blows all other similar companions, regardless of genre, right out of the water. Detailed, insightful, and truly delightful, it has enhanced my enjoyment of what I consider to be one of the best shows ever produced for television. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion is an essential buy.

I'm a huge fan of Block's writing style and this book was one that takes you into its world from the beginning and doesn't let you out until the last page has been read and you're left with the aftertaste of Block's stories.

The first story Tweetie Sweet Pea, is about being young and innocense. It's a great opener for this book. Blue was one of my personal favorites. When La looses her mother (her mother took her own life) she hides all her feelings in and has no friends. Until she meets an odd character from her closet who is blue.

Dragons in Manhattan is one of the best short stories I've read. It's about a girl with two mothers who are lovers and she goes on a search to find her father. Rave is narrated by a boy who talks of a highschool love named Rave.

Winnie and Cubby is about two highschool lovers one who a shocking secret revealed later in the story.

Other stories include Girl Goddess # 9, The Canyon, Pixie and Pony, and Orpheus.

This book is not to be missed!

When I read the title story, I remember thinking, "Well,I like Sarah McLachlan, maybe I should give Tori Amos a try." (If you don't know how that story ended, well, know that I think nothing of driving ten hours to go to a Tori concert.) And, a year or so later, I re-read the story and thought, "Hey, I like Sarah and Tori, maybe I should try the Cocteau Twins." Thus began another addiction which annually saps me about fifty bucks.

I was going through major issues with a very dear friend as I read "Pixie and Pony," and for years now, those words have stayed with me: "Best friends? We are sisters." After my mother's injury, I struggled to reconcile the reality of her new self with the way she had once been. The story "La" was of enormous help.

GG#9 is every girl's diary. It is all of our fears and hopes and drems. It is everything we've questioned about life, our futures, our parents, our sexuality, and love. Each girl is perfectly unique, very mysterious, and yet completely familiar. Each of these girls is like a little facet of each other, and of ourselves.