Reviews:
 This book is undoubtedly the work of a writer of humor. The Schnauzer story, the Circus chronicle, the Addictive Cop yarn make it immensely easy to picture this author entertaining the likes of Carl Reiner, Carroll O'Connor, Don Adams, Orson Welles, Buck Henry and others who were part of his working life.
But.
This book is also a peculiar mixture of very personal advice and how-to instruction. The instruction is, as expected; how to fashion stories with words, but the several journeys into the philosophy of writing are, to say the least, fractious.
The chapter Creative Energy spends several pages cautioning you to not discuss your work-in-progress with your family or friends. One wonders, not about the wisdom of this advice, but rather about this author's melancholy revelation of his personal anxieties and his relationships with those close to him.
"Writing is a solitary occupation." The author counsels that discussing your writing devalues your work and dissipates your energy and most often leads you astray. "The people closest to you, your family, your friends, may not be members of your potential audience." This perception is extended and enlarged until it ends by suggesting the person who should see your work, the man in a position to buy your screenplay, the producer. "...the producer judges your story on whether or not it provides him with the material he needs to make his next film. He has trained himself not to respond to you as a person. If he thinks he can make a buck with your script, he will work with you even if he detests your nose ring."
In the final analysis, perhaps we must consider this notion and the others like it in the spirit of the Foreword written by the author: "The way to read this book and others like it is to carefully weigh each idea, each theory. Take from each of us [authors of writing books] that which your good sense tells you is true."
- David Haas
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