REVIEW AND GUEST POST: Love Letters To Writers by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

E-Book Information

• File Size: 429 KB
• Publisher: Andi Cumbo-Floyd (November 14, 2017)
• Publication Date: November 14, 2017
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B076VRRH7D\

Synopsis: In 52 personal, vulnerable letters, writer Andi Cumbo-Floyd shares her personal experiences of the writing journey, offers her perspective on the writing life, and shares encouragement to help writers through the hard and the joyous days of being a writer. The letters cover everything from what it feels like to sign a book contract to the times writing draws out emotion we didn't realize to the need for space in our daily lives. The letters are intimate and honest, each written with love for the writers Cumbo-Floyd holds dear.

Review: 

An easy to read book of short letters to writers. The letters are called "love letters" as they are full of encouraging words to get writers through those times when life and/or your writing are getting you down. There is some advice, such as how to build your "platform," but it's more about growing in self-awareness. The author asks questions that help you dig deep, think about your writing, and most importantly, not to compare yourself to other writers. This is a resource I will pull out and read over and over again to keep myself motivated. Many thanks to the author for writing such an important book!

Rating: Five stars

GUEST POST

Loving on the Writers

by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

So much of the writing about writing out there comes in the form of tips or rules, should or don’ts.  I’m enough of a rebel that I don’t like that for myself as a writer, and often, as an editor and writing coach, I hear the way those rules and lists hinder writers, shutting down their creativity and playfulness and making them feel like things have to be “right” instead of they have to be, well, whatever they have to be.

I’ve found that the writers I most relate to, the writing books that have spoken the most to me, have come from the heart and the experiences of the people who lived them.  Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Gayle Brandeis, Stephen King, Laraine Herring – these folks have bared their word-ridden souls in their books on writing, and through their vulnerability, I have been heartened and encouraged even in the hardest days of the writing life.

That’s what I hope – in some small way – Love Letters To Writers does for the wordsmiths who read it. I hope they are encouraged and challenged, and I hope they know that I have told them the truth of my experience as a writer in this world.  The book does include a big of practical suggestions – never rules – that I have drawn from my own experience of writing, marketing, and publishing, but my intention was always to leave space for those experiences which aren’t like my own.  After all, there aren’t that many writers – the great Wendell Berry aside – who also farm. (Oh, the goat metaphors I could include here.)

Writing is not always easy, and so I hope this book lifts other writers a little on the hard days and gently pushes them to keep going when the hard feels too heavy.  I hope I have passed along the gift that so many other writers have given me – a belief in myself, a nudge to just take it one word at a time, and the promise that I am not alone in this journey.  

About the author

Andi Cumbo-Floyd is a writer, editor, and writing coach who lives at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband, four dogs, four cats, three rabbits, six goats, and thirty-six chickens.  Her book Love Letters to Writers: Encouragement, Accountability, and Truth-Telling will be available everywhere books are sold on Nov. 14th.  You can read more of her thoughts on writing at Andilit.com.