All the Words: A Year of Reading about Writing

by Kristen Tate

If you read one book about writing every week for a year, what would you learn? Thanks to the self-publishing revolution and events like National Novel Writing Month, the genre of writing craft books has exploded in recent years. Book editor Kristen Tate set out to read and review one writing advice book each week for a year, from classics like E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to newer works like Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode and Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. What she discovered was a dizzying array of approaches to plotters who know even the smallest details about characters before they write a word; pantsers who blithely dive right into a draft without a plan; anti-adverb crusaders and advocates for complex sentences; and, always, that the best way to learn is to read the kinds of books you want to write. All the Words is also a meditation on the challenges and pleasures of starting and sustaining a weekly practice of reading, thinking, and writing. It’s an optimistic, encouraging book that will motivate you to keep reading and, most importantly, keep writing.

Genres: Writing

203 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2020

About the author

Kristen Tate has been a freelance editor for a decade, helping authors transform their work from rough draft to finished book. She has a PhD in English from Columbia University, with a focus on publishing history. She is the author of Novel Study: Decoding the Secrets and Structures of Contemporary Fiction and writes a regular newsletter full of craft advice and encouragement for authors.

Reviews

[Morgan Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly inspiring from start to finish. From getting started to moving through the tough times of editing and revision, Kristen takes you on a journey of drafting and editing. Great stuff!

[William LaFond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books about writing, and they are books for a reason. It takes a book-length work to explain, teach, or discuss what the writer wants to tell the reader about writing. I did not expect much from a book that I saw as a collection of summaries of other people's work. Happily, I was way off base on both counts.
This is an excellent book. Ms. Tate does not summarize the books on writing. Rather, she distills the information and guidance in a skillful and truly helpful way.
Her tone and presentation are near perfect. Every time I picked up the book I felt that I was about to listen to a friend tell me something interesting. And that's what I got. I'd like to have Ms. Tate as a friend, and she had something interesting to offer every time I went back to the book.
I have read several of the books she covers here, and she did a great job of getting the gist and the ideas of these books to her readers. Based on that, I would think she has done the same fine job with the other books she included in her book.
One thing I couldn't figure out...she reviewed a book per week, meaning she read that book that week, and she also wrote about it (and lived her life, as she informs us from time to time). How could she do that?
Anyway, I'm glad she could. I enjoyed this book and would have loved for it go longer. The book is a really good read on its own, and if you are interested in writing, it's double good for you because you do learn useful things about writing.

[Otto Schafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s More Than a Book on Craft!

Author Kristen Tate spent a full year reading and reviewing a book a week on the craft of writing. I enjoyed Kristen’s explanations and brief summaries of each work. I also appreciated when she excitedly agreed with lessons taught and just as much when she gave us honesty the other way. Plus, through Kristen’s work, I discovered a boatload of books on craft I didn’t even know existed and have now added many to my TBR list.

What I enjoyed most, though, and what kept me eagerly turning page after page wasn’t all the sage advice, or the thoughtful recipes, like the lemon ginger ice cube tonic (though those ice cubes are delicious). And sure, I can get through most any book on craft if it offers something to learn, and this work offers a treasure trove. But those things alone didn’t get me emotionally invested. What had me turning pages with vigor was the genuine connection this author created with her reader. Throughout this work, Kristen not only encourages us to press on with our own writing and reading, but she shares snippets of where she is in her own writer’s journey. Her ability to be vulnerable and share with us how she was feeling in any week made me feel even more connected to Kristen’s journey, thus compelling me forward to see how things went for her the following week and again the week after, and so on.

This book was a joy to read and one I will revisit often as I meander along the path of my own writer’s journey. Whether you are just getting started or are already an established writer, add this one in your toolbox. You won’t regret it!

Disclaimer: Kristen Tate edits all my books and at the time of this review, she has edited three of my own works. However, this review was not solicited. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Oh, and if there are typos in this review, that’s because Kristen didn’t edit it :).

[Nicole C. Ayers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic read for writers. Tate’s encouraging weekly check-ins paired with the glimpses into her own writing life were engaging, and her incisive descriptions of the writing books she deconstructed each week make this an invaluable resource. Now, rather than vacillating about which writing books are a good fit for me, I have a solid list to pull from depending on my needs.

[Mar Mendes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like hanging out with a friend every evening with a nice beverage! Besides the small nuggets of wisdom Tate drops every now and then, the advice is amazing and, though it might not be for most, perfect for me. Completely recommend giving it a read! ♡

[Jennifer Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you write fiction and want to learn more about your craft? Start here. Kristen Tate has compiled a year’s worth of her weekly newsletter in which she reads and discusses a different writing craft book each week. I added several books to my TBR (like Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us by editor Jessica Morrell, and Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose, which has convinced me of the benefits of re-reading favorite books) and added one to avoid (I’ll skip John Gardner’s sexist viewpoint in The Art of Fiction, thank you very much). Especially useful is a final chapter called “Book Recommendations” in which Tate recommends books for a particular writing hurdle, like writer’s block, how to plot, or how to fix boring sentences. All the Words is available for a steal as an ebook.

[E S R · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75