WRITING IS MY DRINK
by Theo Pauline Nestor
Published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster.
Reviewed by Kendra Crispin.
Writing Is My Drink is a book that catches attention starting with the cover’s martini glass drawing, and then takes you on the author’s journey of discovering that writing was something she wanted to do and how she did it. Theo Pauline Nestor’s narrative is something most, if not all writers can relate to: the despair, frustration, joy, and challenges of juggling life and writing. She shows us the pain of critique and the struggle to convince the ego to get out-of-the-way of a better piece. The path she took was difficult, but she was able to use her own troubles to launch herself into working on publishable pieces – a goal I relate to completely.
What resonated with me the most was the “Try This” sections at the end of each chapter-thought and writing exercises to help readers on their own writing path. The ideas were all useful ways of pushing yourself to find out what makes you tick as a reader and a writer. For a still unpublished writer, this seems a vital step to coming out of the habits of the past and beginning to set new routines, and that alone would make this a book worth reading. The combination of memoir and writing guide is a brilliant duo.
Having three novels to revise didn’t stop Oregon transplant Kendra Crispin from starting a non-fiction project on Doctor Who for Camp NaNoWriMo. An alumna of UT-Austin and Norwich University (Vermont), she loves reading and hopes to soon see her own books being reviewed on this site.
