This is a great book if you are looking for prompts just to get you writing - I did not find it to necessarily stop writer's block. This book (which I found for free as a Kindle ebook) is geared towards creative nonfiction, and while I did not read every prompt, I did not find any prompts geared for creative fiction. However, most the prompts could change to fiction with a little imagination.

Overall, my favorite part about Cohen's book was how it was divided into the four seasons and prompts within each season were divided further into categories such as Nature, Activities, Literature, "Mixed Bag", and Food (among many others). My least favorite part about the ebook version is the lack of available navigation - the table of contents with links to each season is located in the very back of the book and you need to flip through each page. I would have enjoyed being able to easily jump to any subject within each season, since most the writers I know pick writing prompts based on what they are feeling and not through numerical order.

Read the 11th edition - SO helpful for anyone who wants to look at not just WHAT they are writing but HOW they are communicating their ideas. I read this for a college class and it has given me so much to think about when it comes to my writing and personal style. Even if you don't agree with everything they suggest (I didn't), this book is incredibly helpful to make you start thinking about how you can use your writing style to communicate to the reader.

I generally try to avoid giving 1-star and 2-star reviews, but I was quite disappointed with this and feel I should explain why:

1. This "book" is 4 pages, so I am glad it was free on Amazon. From the positive reviews on Amazon, perhaps I received only a sample of the book, however, since the portion I received read like a summary I unfortunately don't believe I would be interested in reading anything further.

2. I felt the title was misleading from the suggestions. Of the 8 suggestions included, all were common sense advice for any writer (not just those interested in self-publishing) and frankly, every writer should complete these before handing their manuscript off to a second set of eyes.

3. I was really hoping for more in-depth and more unique ideas of how to take your manuscript editing up a notch. What does the author do differently in her editing process than other writers, and how long does she spend on each step? Why should you take the author's advice - what life experiences have taught her this information (I'm not saying the author should turn the focus of this book to stories of her life, but more to explain "I've written __ books and received these acknowledgements and here's what I've learned")?