Bang on the Shelves & Check out Book Trailer!

Bang the Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice (Penguin) is here at last! With a forward by New York Times reporter John Leland (and author of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of on the Road) and kvelling blurbs from numerous beloved and esteemed authors (see below), rest assured: BANG THE KEYS has been vetted by high end writers of note, and yet remains accessible to writers of all levels. It can be used as a writing workshop in a book, an individual guide to practice and craft, or an ice-breaker at boring parties.



This short book trailer gives a strong sense of what Bang the Keys is all about and can be found on my website (just hit "book trailer" tab) and what the book can do for you. The book is many things, but one thing it is NOT is generic. It is meant for the erudite but over-stimulated 21st Century writer who struggles to get offline to write, yet who also appreciates wisdom culled from the deep wells of literary and cinematic history.

The success of my work has always rested upon one thing: enthusiastic word of mouth from writers and the people who love them (and want them to stop self-flagellating and start writing)! So, if you are willing, please spread the word to the writers you know, to bookstores you shop at, and online on your blogs and sites. This kindness is greatly appreciated and I hope will lead to productive writing hours and well-crafted prose and plots for all writers who pick up Bang the Keys, and then sit down to bang their own keys.


AUTHOR BIO: Writing Coach and editor Jill Dearman has been teaching her Bang the Keys philosophy of writing to new storytellers and published professionals alike since 2003, most recently at New York University. She has also taught journalism at NYU since 2001, and as a journalist has written for The Writer, New York Daily News, Time Out New York and other publications. Her award-winning short stories and essays have been published in numerous literary magazines including Lilith, New York Stories, The Portland Review, North Atlantic Review and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. Jill also writes the weekly "writer to writer" interview blog at Barnes & Noble.com If you are a writer who would like to be considered for an interview please send a brief note to Jill@JillDearman.com.

For more: BangtheKeys.com.


UPCOMING APPEARANCES include
Aug. 9 (Sun) at 5:30 Jill will appear at Red Hill Book Store in San Francisco for a reading and mini-workshop.

Sept. 10 (Thur Eve.) at 7pm. New York Book Launch Party at Book Court in Brooklyn: BookCourt.org


PRAISE FOR BANG THE KEYS BY JILL DEARMAN (PENGUIN/AUGUST, 2009)

“Few writing guides prove as thoughtful and intimate as Jill Dearman’s, and fewer still dare to be so insistently sensible and efficacious. Part anthology, part manual, part scourge, Bang the Keys distills the know-how of a gifted writer and teacher.”
--Robert Polito, Director of the New School Graduate Writing Program, author, Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (Vintage), winner of the National Book Critics Award for Biography.

"A beloved Renaissance chick with wit and passion enough to warm a biodome, Dearman proselytizes to Struggling Writer Nation with utter pragmatism and inventiveness. Dare to resist her injunctions if you can –– there's no better battle plan for sentence-making anywhere on the horizon."
--Michael Atkinson, film critic and author, Hemingway Deadlights (St. Martins).

"I sold my first book on a treatment and the first 50 pages. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that the first 50 pages are the easy part. It was awfully surprising to find that, for me, the big challenge in writing a novel is resistance. I have a busy New York City-type career (I'm a Forensic Pathologist) and then a second busy-ish career as a freelance writer (New York Times Magazine, New York, Gourmet, etc.), and finding the time to work on the novel was always 'difficult'. Or so I let myself believe, as I coasted along, ignoring the looming deadline as I took care of more pressing and immediately gratifying obligations. Working with Jill not only forced me to focus on my book, but it proved the initial push –– or series of pushes –– that got me rolling on it, and not just rolling, but actually excited about my book. Jill's mastered the art of being honest, but gentle. Working with Jill for a few seasons has given me enough momentum to finish the book independently. Jill has whipped my self-confidence into such a state that I'm sure I'll finish strong. I'm plenty confident now, but heck, even Tiger Woods has a coach, right?"
---Jonathan Hayes, novelist, Precious Blood and A Hard Death (Harper Collins).

“This is a book about self-discipline, about finding your calling and learning to listen to that calling … so charming, so beguiling and laugh-out-loud funny you won’t even notice that you’re working your butt off . . . and getting it done! Jill Dearman is a national treasure.”
--Alison Smith author of Name All the Animals (Scribner), winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Memoir.

"If you are as ambivalent about your prose as you are about everything else in your life, place it and yourself in the velvet-gloved iron fist of Jill Dearman. She will be your mother and your whore."
--Donna Brodie, Executive Director of The Writers Room, New York City, An Urban Writers Colony

"If you are sick of hearing goody-goody writing experts preaching their New Age or Know-it-All gospel, then bang on Jill Dearman's door, but quick. She seductively taps into writers' natural desire to write, which is just as natural to us as drinking, complaining and procrastinating. Then, through skill, experience and intuition, she hypnotizes writers into falling in love with their writing, and wanting to write again, and again. And by the end of the Dearman trip, we've learned how to hypnotize ourselves."
--Nisha Ganatra, Screenwriter and Director of the award-winning film, Chutney Popcorn; director of Cake.

“Bang the Keys overflows with contagious humor and energy. In fact, after a few pages you will likely throw it aside and run to bang your own keys! But my bet is that you will return to it and that it will stay on your shelf for reference.”
--Suzannah Lessard, author Architect of Desire (Dial Press), former staff writer, The New Yorker; teacher of Creative Writing at The New School, Goucher College and other universities.

"Ready to write your book? Jill Dearman is the savvy coach and good friend every writer needs. With warmth, tough-love, and humor she provides the inspiration, information, practical tips, exercises, advice, and motivation to get you started and to sustain your writing practice for a lifetime."
--Deborah Landau, Director, Creative Writing Program, New York University and author of the poetry collection, Orchidelirium (winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry).

"Jill Dearman has the nurturing power of a Jewish mother (without the guilt) and uses it to help you believe that there is no more important task than for you to finish that writing project! If you've been procrastinating for years –– and who hasn't been? –– then get your hands on this workshop-in-a-book. Her approach just works."
--Beth Greenfield, memoir forthcoming from Random House, 2010.

Thanks for your support and good luck, writers! Keep banging the keys ...
--Jill Dearman