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Write for Your Life: The Home Seminar for Writers
The home version of Lawrence Block's famous seminar for writers!
In the 1980s, Lawrence Block developed an interactional seminar that adapted elements of the human potential movement specifically for writers. For several years, he and his wife, Lynne, traveled the country conducting seminars that focused on the inner game of writing and designed to enable participants to get out of their own way and put their best work on paper.
This book was written to make the seminar available to a larger audience, and at a lower price. Block self-published it in 1986, in an edition of 5,000 copies, which sold out in short order. A few years later, he stopped offering the seminar, having tired of the guru trip and preferring to concentrate on his own writing, and ever since, the book's been impossible to obtain.
When e-books came around, Block arranged for Harper Collins to publish Write for Your Life in that format. But it's the sort of text one wants to be able to page through, and a printed book is just more user-friendly. In the fall of 2013, an assistant found the last box of 25 copies of the 1986 edition in a storage cupboard; Block offered them in a newsletter, and they sold out within three hours.
This is the original book, with a foreword bringing it up to date. With the book, as with the seminar, it doesn't matter at all where you are in your writing career or what kind of writing you do. That's all beside the point. Write for Your Life is about making the best out of what you are and who you are.
And now, with the e-book and subsequent print editions of Write for Your Life continuing to find an eager audience, we’re delighted to make the book available for the first time in audio.
In the 1980s, Lawrence Block developed an interactional seminar that adapted elements of the human potential movement specifically for writers. For several years, he and his wife, Lynne, traveled the country conducting seminars that focused on the inner game of writing and designed to enable participants to get out of their own way and put their best work on paper.
This book was written to make the seminar available to a larger audience, and at a lower price. Block self-published it in 1986, in an edition of 5,000 copies, which sold out in short order. A few years later, he stopped offering the seminar, having tired of the guru trip and preferring to concentrate on his own writing, and ever since, the book's been impossible to obtain.
When e-books came around, Block arranged for Harper Collins to publish Write for Your Life in that format. But it's the sort of text one wants to be able to page through, and a printed book is just more user-friendly. In the fall of 2013, an assistant found the last box of 25 copies of the 1986 edition in a storage cupboard; Block offered them in a newsletter, and they sold out within three hours.
This is the original book, with a foreword bringing it up to date. With the book, as with the seminar, it doesn't matter at all where you are in your writing career or what kind of writing you do. That's all beside the point. Write for Your Life is about making the best out of what you are and who you are.
And now, with the e-book and subsequent print editions of Write for Your Life continuing to find an eager audience, we’re delighted to make the book available for the first time in audio.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 1986
78 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
768 books2,976 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 3, 2019
Wow. This is a treatise on the psychology of writing. It takes a deep dive into the metaphysical aspects of “how come I can’t write my novel and what’s stopping me.”
Lots of exercises as it is a written version of Blocks weekend writer seminar. If you are like me and are stalled in your writing career this might be a way to get you back on track. I am certainly going to give it a try.
Lots of exercises as it is a written version of Blocks weekend writer seminar. If you are like me and are stalled in your writing career this might be a way to get you back on track. I am certainly going to give it a try.
April 24, 2015
New age waffle.
September 9, 2018
Was NOT expecting this from a hard boiled American crime writer. Rebirthing? Positive affirmations? MEDITATION?
That said, this is the best thing I have read for getting over a period of procrastination I have been at agonies to understand.
Skipping over the more West Coasty-New Agey malarkey (celestial ordering, anyone?) the exercises make you focus on why you want to be a brilliant writer and what is stopping you (your own head).
The answers surprised me, but they really did help.
And some of the other suggestions (automatic writing, first lines, character descriptions) were enjoyable and useful.
That said, this is the best thing I have read for getting over a period of procrastination I have been at agonies to understand.
Skipping over the more West Coasty-New Agey malarkey (celestial ordering, anyone?) the exercises make you focus on why you want to be a brilliant writer and what is stopping you (your own head).
The answers surprised me, but they really did help.
And some of the other suggestions (automatic writing, first lines, character descriptions) were enjoyable and useful.
October 12, 2014
This is a great book to get you writing again if you've quit, to deal with fears you've got about writing, and make you realize that you're a good enough writer to make it worthwhile.
The other nice thing about this book is that the exercises and principles the author employs to get you writing also apply to other avenues of your life. I'll probably give it another read in six months or so to tackle other things in my life.
The other nice thing about this book is that the exercises and principles the author employs to get you writing also apply to other avenues of your life. I'll probably give it another read in six months or so to tackle other things in my life.
September 2, 2019
I’m still surprised that I didn’t read Lawrence Block earlier in my writing career. His From Plot to Print is a super useful book on craft!
This book is slightly different, melding practical advice with discussion of the sort of theory of creativity. Think along the lines of Julia Cameron’s work, given in a format that was usually an in-person workshop/lecture/teaching experience, and then written out in a conversational style.
There are a lot of writers who will think the contents of this book are too woo-woo or new agey for their purposes. And that’s fine! If you don’t struggle with actually getting words on the page, I’m really happy for you. This book is for the people who feel like they aren’t allowed to have a voice. Who clean the whole house before they’ll allow themselves to sit down and write. It’s a healing journey, if you let yourself embrace your voice, put yourself first, and don’t balk at the new-agey methods with which Block suggests you hack your mental and emotional system.
Is there a chapter on affirmations? Yeah. There is. But you’re not just told to speak the same sentence to yourself in the mirror every day. You explore the hidden things that your subconscious mind believes, and you work to dig those out, challenge them, and see if your beliefs and ways you interact with the world are actually helping you, or harming your writing and productivity. There’s a great affirmations exercise in here where you write out an affirmation on one side of the page and then let your negative inner editor type persona respond, writing down any negative or sarcastic or hurtful or fearful thing it might be thinking. It lets you vent your emotions and fears, to air them out, see them for what they are, and through that process of validating them, they lose their power over you.
Again, any writers who don’t have any trouble showing up at the page to get their words down, you probably don’t need this book. Any writers who are blocked, who find that writing is always lower on the priority list than they want it to be, who struggle to speak up and write their stories because they feel like society doesn’t want them to have a voice—this book is for you. Read this, then go read The Right to Write (and anything else by Julia Cameron), and you’ll be well on your way to challenging those stupid tropes of the struggling artist and the alcoholic genius creative that captalism forced on you to keep you from expressing and embracing your true power.
This and other reviews by me can be found at www.annaimber.com
This book is slightly different, melding practical advice with discussion of the sort of theory of creativity. Think along the lines of Julia Cameron’s work, given in a format that was usually an in-person workshop/lecture/teaching experience, and then written out in a conversational style.
There are a lot of writers who will think the contents of this book are too woo-woo or new agey for their purposes. And that’s fine! If you don’t struggle with actually getting words on the page, I’m really happy for you. This book is for the people who feel like they aren’t allowed to have a voice. Who clean the whole house before they’ll allow themselves to sit down and write. It’s a healing journey, if you let yourself embrace your voice, put yourself first, and don’t balk at the new-agey methods with which Block suggests you hack your mental and emotional system.
Is there a chapter on affirmations? Yeah. There is. But you’re not just told to speak the same sentence to yourself in the mirror every day. You explore the hidden things that your subconscious mind believes, and you work to dig those out, challenge them, and see if your beliefs and ways you interact with the world are actually helping you, or harming your writing and productivity. There’s a great affirmations exercise in here where you write out an affirmation on one side of the page and then let your negative inner editor type persona respond, writing down any negative or sarcastic or hurtful or fearful thing it might be thinking. It lets you vent your emotions and fears, to air them out, see them for what they are, and through that process of validating them, they lose their power over you.
Again, any writers who don’t have any trouble showing up at the page to get their words down, you probably don’t need this book. Any writers who are blocked, who find that writing is always lower on the priority list than they want it to be, who struggle to speak up and write their stories because they feel like society doesn’t want them to have a voice—this book is for you. Read this, then go read The Right to Write (and anything else by Julia Cameron), and you’ll be well on your way to challenging those stupid tropes of the struggling artist and the alcoholic genius creative that captalism forced on you to keep you from expressing and embracing your true power.
This and other reviews by me can be found at www.annaimber.com
February 27, 2020
Skimmed through the book after chapter 2.
While I feel like every writing advice is helpful in some capacity, this book goes on a journey, where you're drowning in a word pool. It's more an essay about how Block made his seminar, how it was going and people's reactions to it, problems that all writer go through.
Practicality of this book is almost zero, especially if you're searching for condensed advice. But it's a good story, I wouldn't expect less from accomplished writer tbh.
This book is for you if you like, as author says himself, holistic approach. Spirituality, meditation etc included.
If you seek practical, no-bullshit, straight to the point advice this one isn't for you.
While I feel like every writing advice is helpful in some capacity, this book goes on a journey, where you're drowning in a word pool. It's more an essay about how Block made his seminar, how it was going and people's reactions to it, problems that all writer go through.
Practicality of this book is almost zero, especially if you're searching for condensed advice. But it's a good story, I wouldn't expect less from accomplished writer tbh.
This book is for you if you like, as author says himself, holistic approach. Spirituality, meditation etc included.
If you seek practical, no-bullshit, straight to the point advice this one isn't for you.
May 8, 2020
Lawrence Block, who in the past year has become one of my favorite writers, put online for free his class that inspired this book after an in-person class was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. The “class” had a major impact on me; I’ve already written 50% of a book I didn’t plan to write. It’s effective at addressing what Block refers to as “the little editor” in your head who tells you you’re not good enough. I’m not an expert on “how to write” guides but this one worked for me.
December 3, 2011
If you think you can't, you're right.
June 23, 2025
Hoo boy. Becoming a better writer through affirmations... I love Block as a writer, but this isn't for me.
July 23, 2024
In the mid-1980's Lawrence Block started a side business for a couple of years conducting a national seminar for writers. He used popular concepts from the Human Potential Movement to address the "mental game" of writing. This book, which was mainly sold at those seminars and by mail order, distills the concepts and techniques taught in the seminars onto the printed page.
Topics include:
Meditation
Naming your fears
Automatic writing
Silencing your inner "Little Editor"
Harnessing intuitive intuition
Identifying negative beliefs about yourself
Positive affirmations
Lawrence Block has written six books for writers on the topic of writing. His four volumes of Writer's Digest columns, in particular, are informative and engaging even if (like me) you are not a writer. This book can be viewed as a companion piece to those others. It is readable and chocked full of anecdotes about writers and publishers.
However, some of its New Age semi-mystical statements do not resonate with me, such as "Start with a group meditation to change the energy in the room" or "Perhaps all human beings share some profound telepathic network, and your intuition is your hookup to that network".
The chapter on personal laws--i.e., negative perceptions we carry around about ourself--is powerful. We often spend our lives attempting to disprove these inner beliefs, while simultaneously and unconsciously sabotaging those same attempts to change:
I'm not good enough.
I'm not interesting.
People will hate me if they know what I'm really like.
I don't deserve to succeed.
I can see how exercises to confront those personal laws may be useful, not only to writing but in all aspects of life.
On the other hand, some chapters fall flat for me. Such as the one that explains how personal laws stem from birthing memories.
3 stars.
Topics include:
Meditation
Naming your fears
Automatic writing
Silencing your inner "Little Editor"
Harnessing intuitive intuition
Identifying negative beliefs about yourself
Positive affirmations
Lawrence Block has written six books for writers on the topic of writing. His four volumes of Writer's Digest columns, in particular, are informative and engaging even if (like me) you are not a writer. This book can be viewed as a companion piece to those others. It is readable and chocked full of anecdotes about writers and publishers.
However, some of its New Age semi-mystical statements do not resonate with me, such as "Start with a group meditation to change the energy in the room" or "Perhaps all human beings share some profound telepathic network, and your intuition is your hookup to that network".
The chapter on personal laws--i.e., negative perceptions we carry around about ourself--is powerful. We often spend our lives attempting to disprove these inner beliefs, while simultaneously and unconsciously sabotaging those same attempts to change:
I'm not good enough.
I'm not interesting.
People will hate me if they know what I'm really like.
I don't deserve to succeed.
I can see how exercises to confront those personal laws may be useful, not only to writing but in all aspects of life.
On the other hand, some chapters fall flat for me. Such as the one that explains how personal laws stem from birthing memories.
3 stars.
September 19, 2019
Favorite lines:
1. "It is a fundamental principle of any number of spiritual disciplines that more is given to him who gives of himself, and that you have to give it away in order to keep it" (7).
2. "Once we are aware of our fears, we are almost always capable of being more courageous than we think....Fear and courage are like lightning and thunder; they both start out at the same time, but the fear travels faster and arrives sooner. If we just wait a moment, the requisite courage will be along shortly" (40).
3. "Self-esteem is quiet, assured and confident. Ego is loud, arrogant and secretly terrified" (88).
1. "It is a fundamental principle of any number of spiritual disciplines that more is given to him who gives of himself, and that you have to give it away in order to keep it" (7).
2. "Once we are aware of our fears, we are almost always capable of being more courageous than we think....Fear and courage are like lightning and thunder; they both start out at the same time, but the fear travels faster and arrives sooner. If we just wait a moment, the requisite courage will be along shortly" (40).
3. "Self-esteem is quiet, assured and confident. Ego is loud, arrogant and secretly terrified" (88).
May 11, 2019
This book is a keeper! Write For Your Life is not a How-To book but more like a How-To-Be book. It talks about how to get and maintain the writers mind-set. It deals with and gives practical advice on how to cope with self-doubt among other maladies that all writers deal with at one time or another. This book will be one I return to time and again!
July 30, 2017
I absolutely loved this book. It isn't a practical writing guide; it's more of a metaphysical approach to identifying and removing the self-inflicted negative beliefs that block your creativity and hold you back from accomplishing your goals. I found the exercises very useful and they could easily applied to other areas of life. If you've done The Artist's Way, a lot of the exercises here will probably feel familiar.
I've read a lot of personal growth / self-help books, but few that deal directly with the topic of writing. So even though some of the processes here were familiar to me, applying them to my writing felt like a fresh approach.
The book could use an update; Block states in the introduction that he didn't have the time or inclination to revise it, so he reprinted it as is. As a result, he speaks throughout of the experience of attending his writing seminars, which haven't been held since the 1980s. He also makes references to outdated writing instruments such as typewriters. But I found that none of this detracted from the value he presents here.
I've read a lot of personal growth / self-help books, but few that deal directly with the topic of writing. So even though some of the processes here were familiar to me, applying them to my writing felt like a fresh approach.
The book could use an update; Block states in the introduction that he didn't have the time or inclination to revise it, so he reprinted it as is. As a result, he speaks throughout of the experience of attending his writing seminars, which haven't been held since the 1980s. He also makes references to outdated writing instruments such as typewriters. But I found that none of this detracted from the value he presents here.
April 5, 2020
I found the chapter on fast writing the most useful. Mr. Block also calls it automatic writing. I also got something out of the chapters on experiences, overcoming fear, and overcoming negative thinking. Some of the stories he told about the writing seminars he held were pretty interesting. The rest of the book was too metaphysical for me.
February 23, 2018
Enlightened Read
I really enjoyed the lessons written in this book. The author had such a sense of humor which made the lessons and learning more interesting. I will definitely incorporate some of the much needed lessons into my everyday life.
I really enjoyed the lessons written in this book. The author had such a sense of humor which made the lessons and learning more interesting. I will definitely incorporate some of the much needed lessons into my everyday life.
September 25, 2024
Dated but still worthwhile
I really appreciate Larry’s attempt to replicate is in person retreat, weekends. Has he says it’s kind of impossible to really convey the full experience, but he does a good job of offering activities.
I really appreciate Larry’s attempt to replicate is in person retreat, weekends. Has he says it’s kind of impossible to really convey the full experience, but he does a good job of offering activities.
February 13, 2019
A different and very helpful guidebook for writers.
May 3, 2022
80's pop psychology for writing (affirmations, willing things into the universe, etc.). Intended for a writer to overcome their self-doubts.
January 15, 2024
The book made me wish that I had attended the seminars
December 15, 2016
I had no idea that Block once traveled around giving self-help seminars for writers! This is the book that he wrote to repurpose those seminars for the do-it-yourselfer. If you are into self-help psychology you will probably get a lot out of this book. Otherwise, not so much. Block spends a lot of words in the book talking about the seminar. I guess that is to provide the feel of what it would be like if you were doing this process in the seminar.
Plenty of exercises here, with the main emphasis to get beyond negative self-talk. So if you are prone to that, then this book will prove helpful.
But if, like me, you are maybe hoping for some more techniques from Block, this book will be a disappointment and you are better off reading his books of repurposed Writer's Digest columns. Such as: Telling Lies for Fun & Profit, Spider, Spin Me A Web: A Handbook for Fiction Writers, and The Liar's Bible: A Handbook for Fiction Writers
Really only one non-self-help technique takeaway, but it is a good one on developing characters. So I will call that three-page section worth the price of the book.
Plenty of exercises here, with the main emphasis to get beyond negative self-talk. So if you are prone to that, then this book will prove helpful.
But if, like me, you are maybe hoping for some more techniques from Block, this book will be a disappointment and you are better off reading his books of repurposed Writer's Digest columns. Such as: Telling Lies for Fun & Profit, Spider, Spin Me A Web: A Handbook for Fiction Writers, and The Liar's Bible: A Handbook for Fiction Writers
Really only one non-self-help technique takeaway, but it is a good one on developing characters. So I will call that three-page section worth the price of the book.
August 10, 2021
For many years now I have told anyone who would listen Lawrence Block is the absolute Last Word on writing. I have most of his novels and every one of his books on writing, and have found all of them to be excellent. Until now. This collection of mystical, self-delusional salesman's rah-rah stuff is for the hopeless only. It is such a departure from the sound practical advice of Writing the Novel for Fun and Profit, or Spider: Spin Me a Web.
Each of us must grow as we mature and for some, this means finding a spiritual connection to life, but if you want solid information this is not the place to find it. Better bring your yoga mat and sandals cause the incense is thick and the consciousness is raised.
Not that that helps with writing.
Each of us must grow as we mature and for some, this means finding a spiritual connection to life, but if you want solid information this is not the place to find it. Better bring your yoga mat and sandals cause the incense is thick and the consciousness is raised.
Not that that helps with writing.
March 28, 2013
Along with Dean Koontz's How to Write Bestselling Fiction, this is one of the best writing books I've ever read.
January 6, 2016
potentially helpful but in the way that everything you do in life is helpful in someway or another.
April 10, 2016
One of the best and most interesting books about writing. This is not about writing, but about the writer's mind and how to straighten that out. Very surprising!
February 17, 2017
This book really inspired me to write through fear and limiting beliefs. I highly recommend it.
January 11, 2017
Not bad
Wish I could have a seminar, but it isn't possible yet. This wasn't a bad substitute. I would recommend to others.
Wish I could have a seminar, but it isn't possible yet. This wasn't a bad substitute. I would recommend to others.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews