Book Review: How To Become A Famous Writer Before You're Dead by Ariel Gore

I decided to read How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore because I had read The Mother Trip and enjoyed Gore’s writing style and humor. 

How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead gave me more inspiration and guidance than I could have ever hoped. It is a practical guide for writers who are interested in being published. Ariel Gore covers basic writing advice, self-promotion, and incorporates interviews with various writers, including Michelle Tea and Margaret Cho. 

I am very much drawn to the do-it-yourself lifestyle. Ariel Gore made me feel self-publishing books is completely attainable and realistic. She does a great job of balancing DIY publishing with information about agents and submitting literary work to authors and editors. 

I appreciate how Ariel Gore shares her background of being a single mom and finding the time to write despite the hectic moments of life. As a mother of three kids, I can relate and she gives me the motivation to write more and make fewer excuses. 

I leave you with one of my many favorite pieces from this book.

I write during the day when my daughter is at school. I write at night when everyone is sleeping. I write in the morning before they get up. I write in the afternoon when my daughter is on the phone. I bought a blue velvet couch at a garage sale and put it out on the covered porch and it became my office. I've picked up the pace. If I get an hour, I can write five pages. It's nothing Kerouac would have been proud of. Fuck Kerouac.