Despite the cute pictures, this is a straight talking book, full of solid advice about building a writing career. St. John assumes her readers already have the talent and the creativity, she's just here to make succeeding a viable reality! An excellent resource!

As I person who enjoys creative writing and has a few half-written novels sitting in a drawer, this books was just a delight! If you want to write, but are too self-critical, disorganized or just unsure of what you want to say, this is the book for you! Thank you, Cheryl St. John!!!

As an aspiring writer who has issues with self-doubt and procrastination, I found this book helpful and gave me the kick I needed. The author covers lots of information on how to apply positivity into your writing routine, be organised and publishing. She gives examples of her own experiences and quotes from others.

An enjoyable and loving kick in the pants for anyone who wants to write or keep writing. If you've lost the joy of writing, or forgotten whey you wanted to write in the first place, Write Smart, Write Happy will help you reclaim your motivation.

An interesting reading on the process of writing and publishing a book. Even if I am not thinking of writing a book it was really interesting to see what's behind the scene and how it works.
Recommended for aspiring writers.
Many thanks to F+W Media and Netgalley

Great advice for writers! If you have the right attitude you can write and keep writing and Cheryl gives you tips to succeed if you have the will and self belief.

WRITE SMART, WRITE HAPPY by Cheryl St. John is a fun and informative craft book on the writing life. There are all kinds of info chunks for the starting out writer and there are even a few tidbits for the longtime professional. The obvious emphasis is that writers should attempt to maintain a positive outlook because it impacts one's writing. This is the crux of the main argument that St. John lays out and maintains over the course of almost 300 pages.

There isn't much here for an experienced writer, given that after you've read a few craft books, they all begin to say the same thing. The benefit with WRITE SMART, WRITE HAPPY is we have a writer who attempts to approach it from a more lay person's perspective and is sure to break some of the more foundational stigmas that can exist in the writer's world. Commandments such as "Write every day" St. John retorts back, "You do NOT need to write every day." Not every writer works that way and that is okay. The appreciation that some maximums are not universal is always appreciated, especially when every writer's career is not the same.

WRITE SMART, WRITE HAPPY is the perfect book for a budding writer and helpful to the most experienced writer who needs a shot of positivity.

I received this ARC via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley, Cheryl St. John, F+W Media and Writer's Digest Books for allowing me to read and review Write Smart, Write Happy.

Writers: BUY THIS BOOK. It is a fantastic resource!

This book will motivate you. It will make you realize that you procrastinate and make excuses for not writing - and it will give you ideas to help overcome those behaviours. It will teach you to believe in yourself, get over yourself, and push yourself. It's full of tips from published writers. You'll learn about publishing, editing, social media, and networking. You'll screenshot or bookmark or highlight as you read because it's full of quotes and lists and resources. There's even a list of fantastic music to play while you write!

Fabulous. 5/5!

I've been going through a bit of writer's block, so I was pleased to have the chance to review an ARC of this book from NetGalley. First, the bad news: this is not a toolkit for inspiration. St John does not give you prompts to help you shake off the dust, nor does she give you particular exercises to hone your craft. She also glossed over the whole agenting process, which I found a bit surprising since she focused so much on the ins and outs of a professional writer's life (editing, promotion, social media, etc.).

However, these were my expectations, not what the book promised to be, so I don't hold any of that against her. What this book is about is eliminating excuses in favor of setting a plan to write. She's pragmatic about what works for her as well as resources she uses to stay sharp in her writing. I didn't walk away inspired to start something fresh, but I respect her sharing what works for her.

I have read too many books like these, I feel like I did not learn anything from them. Although the author is experienced, the contents of the book feels very cliche, and offers nothing concrete or helpful to a person who is
1) writing
2) read 10 of the similar genre books.
Though if you are getting this for a new writer, or someone who is thinking about it, definitely go ahead. This book is well laid out and has plenty of real life tips.

This is an excellent book with so many tips to help you write a book. The author uses so many great organizational ideas to help you achive your best writing skills. Highly recommend this book if you need ideas on how to write the perfect book.

Stop procrastinating! The no nonsense tone of this book inspired me to work on organizing my writing goals for this year. There are examples of goal lists, inspiration to organize your writing life, and personal tips from the author on how they created up their writing career.

Overall, it is a quick read which could help someone in a writing slump get hack on course. A few of the passages seemed a little strange, like the remark about how Nora Roberts does fine without social media. The book is worth picking up if you need a little nudge to get you writing.


Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.