I've read Becoming a Writer too. Twice. Not so keen on it. I prefer how-to books with specifics. But then again, reading too many how-to books isn't going to get my own written. There comes a point where I have to put those aside and get on with my own.
Becoming a Writer is useful in only two specific cases:
a: the writer who has not even started yet, who as the inkling that they'd like to write, but lacks the confidence.
(This was me all over. Every word she said was a like a lightning bolt going through me; I knew my calling then, so to speak.)
b: the writer who is stuck. Who can't seem to move on. Where the words won't flow.
Where do stories come from? How do we find them? How do we get started? How do we get into the flow of writing? Those are the questions Brande answers. If you do not have a problem in those areas the book is not for you. She says quite plainly that the exercizes she gives are
antecedent to the actual act of writing; she says quite plainly that once you have fixed those problems you should go out and read every book on the technique of writing you can find.
So her book is not about technique at all, and anyone looking for
technique in it is bound to be disappointed. But most of all, you have to write.
