Pretty fantastic stuff from Mr. King. The last time I read a King novel was I think The Green Mile in high school, and I liked it a lot. My dad would pass along the latest volume after he was done reading it. It was a fun way to read a book. Before that, I'd just read some things in middle school and while scary, tended to gravitate towards different kinds of books as I got older.

Many people recommended this book to me over the years, and I shied away from it because for some reason I figured since I hadn't read that much of his books, why should I read what he knows about writing? Well, I was wrong.

The memoir part of the book was plenty interesting, and I admire how much his wife mattered to the writing process. The parts actually about writing were great for me to read, and I became almost blindingly happy at one point when he describes how he'd find "holes in the story so big a train could fit through them" (paraphrasing) in his first drafts when coming back to them. As someone who has had a first draft sitting by, and finding those holes as well, I became disenchanted and threw it back in the drawer. King, making me feel much less alone with my words, says not to do this, don't get down on your writing, and just fill in those holes and keep going. And now I will.

It was definitely inspiring, and I've sat at my desk writing a bit every day since finishing it. Think maybe I'll go back and read a couple more of his novels, too.