This is a review below of _Spinning Words into Gold_ by Maureen Ryan Griffin which I just finished working through. I did not do all the exercises in the writing guide but I think I will be able to go back and do more. I also purchased this as a Christmas gift. The book is now available on Amazon or from Main Street Books to the right.

I am happy I get to give Maureen Ryan Griffin my words here. Her writing guide _Spinning Words into Gold_ is simply a well put together and well written book.

Maureen is a writer and a teacher. She comes to this book with skill and humility. There are, for starters, so many good tips even for someone like myself who is in a formal MFA program for Creative Writing such as: Who is my reader? Why am I writing this piece? Who is your Muse–(a person, a place a thing?).

As if the tips were not enough, Maureen also provides a plethora of exercises, checklists and simply ideas on how to start writing and then to keep doing it from idea to publication. Along w/ the exercises that are largely from the classes she teaches, she has examples of her own writing, her students writings and published writers who she feels are her mentors. It is wonderful to see polished and new work in the same book.

And lastly, for me, there are quotes scattered throughout the margins. As a collector of quotes this was great fun.

I think this is a guide that I will come back to time and time again. I look forward to taking one of Maureen’s classes once I am done with my MFA program. She really has a gift for simple but strong writing creatively and as a teacher.

Strongly recommend this book!