To the Mattresses Week 43 - 10 Rules for Writing

I saw this book on the shelf and just couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  I picked it up, almost took it to the register without cracking it open, and for some reason, thought better of it.  It was a nice little hardcover, but a bit on the light side.  Better to be safe than sorry.

It ended up going back to where it came from.

Disappointment might not be a strong enough word.

Don't get me wrong.  The advice offered by Mr. Leonard is rather generic, but good.  If I hadn't already read a million How-To books it might have been helpful.  But after Story, On Writing, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit and a few other gems, it just felt like it wasn't enough to justify the $14.95 price tag. Seriously, I could post the entire content on this site and it would just seem like an overly long post.

However, if you get the chance, read the darn thing.  Like I said, it's helpful, almost like quick reminders instead of a long lecture.  Certainly concise.  And Joe Ciardiello's illustrations are very good.

But not good enough.  To this day I wouldn't own a copy if I hadn't found it in the Dollar Tree.  That's right, a dollar store. It nearly broke my heart to see his work beside copies of unreadable crap, and I ended up purchasing both copies on the shelf.  They just didn't deserve to be there.