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E-book Review: “You Are A Writer” by Jeff Goins

In the last year or so I’ve become more aware of the work of Jeff Goins. He is a writer, successful blogger and soon-to-be published author. I published a two-part interview of him for this site earlier in the year and I recently wrote a guest post for his site.

He’s just written a new e-book, ‘You Are a Writer‘, and I’ve had the privilege of getting an advance copy to review. There’s also a great website related to the book, which you can find here.

I don’t often review others’ work, but Jeff is a compelling, challenging writer and it’s no understatement to say his work could be life-changing for you. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer,  wait and give this review a read – then go and get this book.

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

Jeff Goins is a writer.

In his new e-book, he makes clear you can be one too.

In this relatively short but powerful e-book, he calls us out to embrace who we can be – to stop dreaming of being writers, stop waiting to be picked and to start calling ourselves writers – and teaches us how to be writers.  (more…)

Jeff Goins interview – Part 2: Existing in the tension

Regular readers will have seen part 1 of my interview with writer and blogger Jeff Goins earlier in the week, where we discussed his journey so far, his new book and the difference between writing a book and writing a blog. Today we move on to discuss the creative process overall and how Jeff experiences that. So here goes.

James Prescott:Jeff, what have been your biggest struggles overall when it comes to creativity – not just on your book, but overall, and how have you dealt with them?

Jeff Goins: Yeah, I definitely appreciate what that struggle is. The biggest struggle I feel and experience as a creative person is finding my harmony in the tension of what Seth Godin calls ‘shipping’, getting your art out there to the world, and getting it to good enough.

I tend to have these two opposing extremes when it comes to my emotions. One side is perfectionism, like nothing feels good enough, and that’s what keeps me working on something for months and months and years and never sharing it with a soul, because I’m afraid – of failure and what people would think, and there is something holding me back from sharing this with the world.   (more…)

Jeff Goins interview – Part 1

Recently I had the privilege of interviewing author and blogger Jeff Goins. In the space of the last 12 months, Jeff has grown his blog ‘Goins: Writer’ from almost nothing to getting thousands of readers daily. He guest posts for various blogs and periodicals, and recently signed his first book contract. His first book, ‘Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into your Beautiful Life’ (Moody Publishers), will be published later this year.

As someone who is passionate about writing and creativity, I felt he had a lot to offer both myself and you, my readers, on these subjects, so asked him if he’d like to be interviewed, and he graciously accepted.

In this blog post and the next, I’ll be sharing our discussions here. I hope they bless you as much as they have me.

James Prescott: Hey Jeff, its good to see you. Thanks for accepting my invitation

Jeff Goins: Hey James, no problem, my pleasure.

JP: For those who might not have encountered you before, tell us a bit about who you are, what drives you, what you’re passionate about, what you do. (more…)