The Promise of Failure is part memoir of the writing life, part advice book, and part craft book; sometimes funny, sometimes wrenching, but always honest. McNally uses his own life as a blueprint for the writer’s daily struggles as well as the existential ones, tackling subjects such as when to quit and when to keep going, how to deal with depression, what risking something of yourself means, and ways to reenergize your writing through reinvention.
What McNally illuminates is how rejection, in its best light, is another element of craft, a necessary stage to move the writer from one project to the next, and that it’s best to see rejection and failure on a life-long continuum so that you can see the interconnectedness between failure and success, rather than focusing on failure as a measure of self-worth. As brutally candid as McNally can sometimes be, The Promise of Failure is ultimately an inspiring book—never in a Pollyannaish self-help way. McNally approaches the reader as a sympathetic companion with cautionary tales to tell. Written by an author who has as many unpublished books under his belt as published ones, The Promise of Failure is as much for the newcomer as it is for the established writer.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
John McNally is the author or editor of seventeen books, including The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid and Vivid and Continuous: Essays and Exercises for Writing Fiction (Iowa). McNally divides his time between Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Lafayette, Louisiana. He teaches at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.
“The Promise of Failure is a book I’ll be giving to my writing students. Rejection has always been part of every writer’s life, but the writer’s market is now more adversarial than ever before, and John McNally’s precept and example will help them find what it takes to survive in it. This book is both a compendium of good advice and a memoir of the life of a writer willing to try anything—really anything—and to stick with it against any odds. This book isn’t about failure; it’s about never giving up.”—Madison Smartt Bell, author, All Souls’ Rising
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 30629291-n
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9781609385750
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_1609385756
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new1609385756
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon1609385756
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1609385756
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781609385750
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think1609385756
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover1609385756
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 144 pages. 8.50x5.50x0.50 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1609385756