What's In Store
Book Reviews by Melissa Gaskill

The troubled economy spawned a sea of books about positive attitudes, re-inventing yourself, and starting over. If threads on ASJA forums are any indication, we authors and journalists in particular may need such books right now. Perhaps one of these will help you recharge, jump start a new line of work, or do what you're doing a bit better.

The Optimism Advantage: 50 Simple Truths to Transform Your Attitudes and Actions into Results, by Terry L. Paulson, Ph.D. Wiley, 2010, 211 pages, hardback, $24.95.

The platitudes often struck me as too cheery, and I found the boxed quotes on every page a bit annoying (not to mention the surfeit of exclamation points!), but perhaps author Terry L. Paulson, Ph.D., knows he's dealing with a tough(ened) crowd today (and did I mention the exclamation points!).

Optimism, he opines, equals embracing self-reliance and personal responsibility and working to change thought patterns and actions. The 50 truths—such as, one of the greatest secrets of happiness is gratitude—are buried among a lot of subheds and other blather, but the book finally gets around to making you do some thinking. It may be good for writers not satisfied with what they're currently writing or for whom. The chapter on making mistakes and their importance and controlling self-criticism may contain, given the self-flagellations seen on our forums, the book's most important and useful message for ASJA members.

I would have liked more practical tips; instead of "concentrate on the positive,"perhaps "five ways to concentrate on the positive."

"Manage yourself the way you want to be managed by others" offers good food for thought for we self-employed types. Other helpful hints: write a particular accomplishment or problem solved on your calendar for a later pick-me-up, enjoy simple pleasures, and turn three things into goals you can track.

Thank You for Firing Me! How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job, by Kitty Martini and Candice Reed. Sterling, 2010, 240 pages, paperback, $14.95.

The message here: Turn a job (or client) loss into opportunity for lasting success and happiness. The style is witty, irreverent and conversational—one of the authors is a former (fired) copywriter and stand-up comedian, the other a former freelance journalist (let's hope she makes a lot of money off this book). "Making money is essential," they remind us, "but you also need a life."

The authors suggest taking time to evaluate what you really want to do and are good at—don't rush into "rebound" jobs (assignments). As applied to freelance journalists, we might need to ask, am I writing corporate gigs to pay the bills when I really love creative writing? The authors suggest that's the wrong approach.

Martini and Reed include lots of resources. Some are a bit odd, and some simply don't apply to the freelance life. Some advice is even a bit dubious (buy a yoga studio? Do you know anyone making money this way?). But most of us writers probably aren't thinking of buying a business, just doing better with the one we have. Any ASJA member could have done a better chapter on freelancing, but there are interesting chapters on SEO and working abroad, which intrigues me. The list of resources at the end looks useful (although, the Internet being what it is, some is already outdated), and the book talks about monetizing online work, which elicits mixed feelings from our members. All in all, kind of a mixed bag, but if you're thinking of going in a new direction, this book might be helpful.

Self-Confidence: The Remarkable Truth of Why a Small Change Can Make a Big Difference, Paul McGee. Capstone Publishing, 2010, 248 pages, $17.95.

This bright red book's weird spacing, unconventional layout, and mish-mash of typefaces may drive conventional writers mad, and you have British spelling and colloquialisms to handle, but if an attitude adjustment is what you need, this is your book. It contains two major sections: understanding confidence, and ways to boost yours. As the title suggests, his approach is that small changes make a big difference over time. Confidence, McGee writes, is not arrogance but a sense of being OK with yourself. Even if you don't have problems with self-confidence, he adds, it can be better. Two important points: Confidence is situational (I'm confident when writing, not so much when preparing my taxes), and in addition to confidence, you need competence. A few years back, that would have elicited a big "duh," but made me think of all those now practicing the craft of writing online without it. Confidence is also not, he says, the absence of self-doubt; we need a little of that.

The second section talks about the types of people we need in our lives, and the fact that the most important person you ever talk to is yourself. There's a lot of advice on three particular situations. The first is dealing with anxiety about public speaking, which applies to book signings and events. The second deals with interviewing for a job, but could apply to the kind journalists do as well. The third is asking someone for a date, which I find weirdly similar to pitching an editor.

McGee stresses that you have to sell yourself (yes, we do, every pitch), and the key is to do it effectively and appropriately. He talks about dealing with challenging setbacks (had a few of those lately?), and finally, encourages us to help others.