I've spent a lot of time reading about the craft of writing, and I kept holding out for a book that was going to finally kick me in the ass and make me sit down each and every day and pour myself into my work. Steven King's 'On Writing' was a wonderful book, one I think everyone who wants to write should read, but it didn't kick my ass.

Bird by Bird has kicked my ass and raked me over the coals. It's called me out, pants'd me, and made me deeply embarrassed of the brain piloting my body around. It knows all its self-defeating habits, its delusions of being too-good for certain practices, it knew all my fears.

I think the surefire way to know that this book did the trick was that I didn't wait to finish it to finally get it started. I may be an amateur at this moment, I may not be published, but I work on my craft every day now. Nobody can tell me I'm not a writer. This was an important read for me. Very sincere and nurturing, even for all its tough love.

As somebody who's realized a little too late that you can only read so much about the technique and craft of writing before you actually need to sit down, cut out the exercises and write your damn stories, I would say everyone should save this book for last (of your introductory period), once you feel like you've heard it all before. I felt like I had. But I needed to hear this in more ways than one.