On Writing

Reviews / Votes

It's a pleasure to gain access to the thoughts of someone so unashamedly committed to the importance of stories. Written largely as blogs, these memorable, often very funny snapshots of Kennedy's life also contain much better advice for would-be writers than more overtly practical guides. -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times * Observations, both lucid and passionate, on the general state of the book trade and literary culture... Yet it's the manoeuvres she uses and the structures she creates in order to let art happen in her own life that form the kernel of the book. -- Keith Miller * Daily Telegraph * Invaluable advice to authors...her humour - often sardonic, never malicious - is deployed to great effect. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday * On Writing is wit, sadness and aphorism for the writer, reader, and human alike. -- Richard Elins * The List * The life-saving blog is the jam in the sandwich of her book, the sweetener before her revealing stand-up comic routine/memoir and more considered essays that give it professional literary substance. -- Iain Finlayson * The Times * A writer's journal...offers encouragement, advice and words of caution. -- Nicholas Clee * Observer * Engrossing book... It is sharp and funny, full of her trade-mark dark humour. * The Bookbag * It's astute, electrifying, and nicely self-deprecating. She's a master of the absurd, the wry juxtaposition, the startling image. In being the antithesis of the didactic "How to Write" manual, On Writing proves to be one of the most useful books imaginable for writers, in training and beyond. -- Neil Stewart * Civilianglobal.com * It reflects the life of a successful literary fiction writer in today's market. * nudgemenow.com *