You Talkin’ To Me book review
Yes I’m talking To You! There’s No One Else Here.
I’ve just started You Talking To Me by the great and auspicious Linda Seger. I’m taking my time rather than breeze through it, because I’m such a fan of Linda’s. When I cracked open to first page I expected to like it, but what I find in reading it thus far is that it feels familiar. Or rather, Linda feels familiar.
OK, I’m bias. I have read almost all of Linda’s works and I’ve attended her presentations at industry events. Linda is as she writes, relatable, easy to embrace, and filled with too much knowledge for one brain to hold. Lots of gurus are like this.
When I say the book reads familiar, not the content, but the way it reads. Linda’s style is approachable and inviting, not didactic and condescending like the last 2 books on Writing I’ve perused. Familiar in style like her other titles I’ve enjoyed going back 25+ years.
I expected to underline important new things, but I’m also underlining reminders and old standard rules long forgotten and frequently overlooked.
In her chapter Revealing The Character, it’s easy in writing to get stylized and overly rambunctious, but she reminds reader to be relaxed and strategic. I equate her explanation to sipping a fine cognac. One would not guzzle a Louis XIII Cognac. One sips under a wooded glen as sun dissipates and a well earned day dissolves into night only to say, “Very good.”
My only issue is that in paperback the font is small and takes me twice as long to read as it used to take.
ADDENDUM:
As I’ve continued consuming the broth that is the soup of You Talkin’ to Me? By Linda Seger, I have come to realize that as masterful as I may be with the quill, the pen, the tablet, or the keyboard, these is still so much more to learn. Seger lays out the path to crisp, laconic, and impaxctful dialogue in writing in such a way that it reads as though she speaks her pages to you.
Am I being glib or Pollyanna? I don’t think so. I really liked it. And here’s why. When I perform comedy, interact in personal engagements, or write professionally, I can easily translate my inspirations to the page, but when it comes to subtleties, I sometimes stumble. Accents, attitudes, subtext in dialogue can all conflict as you try to convey on so many levels. Seger widens the explanation of the craft.
How insignificant is a lisp, a stutter, or an accent or dialects? Well, huge. And if you miss the target on delivering the nuance, you can lose the essence of the character. Seger illuminate with exacting explanations of how to master the craft.
#BravoSeger. I felt like I was in a master class and that you were actually talkin’ to me.
Michael J. Herman is the author of 14 books including the forthcoming Side Hustle With Muscle: Stop Putting Your Talents to The Side and Start Your Small Business. Find him at www.LinkedIn.com/michaeljherman