Writing is my Drink by Theo Pauline Nestor

If something is blurbed as "the new Bird by Bird", you can be sure that I'm going to read it. I remember Bird by Bird, and though I'm not sure if I actually learnt anything from it, I remember being inspired by it, and I was hoping that Writing is my Drink would do the same.

This is basically a memoir of the author, with each chapter supposed to illustrate a point of writing. At the end of each chapter, there are exercises that you can do.

To be honest, I could have done without the exercises at the end. Most of the book is memoir, about how the author writes, so to suddenly come to a "checklist/to-do list" was a bit of a shock. And I'll admit that thinking of Bird by Bird made any concrete writing exercises a bit of a surprise.

Speaking of writing exercises - I actually did one! I wasn't going to, at first, but I loved the concept of the 21 minute memoir, so I decided to give it a go. And it was pretty fun (link), although what I wrote bore absolutely no resemblance to the others in her website. I did, however, manage to get a few people on Dayre to do it, and it was amazing reading their stories.

All in all, this was a decent read. I think it would have been more powerful without the exercises, since most of the book feels more inspirational than craft-focused, but since I actually did do one of the exercises, I can't say they were all totally distracting. Perhaps they would have been better served at the end of the book?

Speaking of writing inspiration, I should really go and re-read Bird by Bird when I get the chance.