Climb your Stairway to Heaven: The 9 habits of maximum happiness – reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Climb your Stairway to Heaven
The 9 habits of maximum happiness
Writer’s Showcase, 2001
ISBN: 0-595-17826-X – Trade Paperback
Nonfiction/Self-Help
At first glance, I figured that Climb Your Stairway to Heaven does not seem like a book that writers (specifically) would need on their bookshelves. Then I started thinking about writers’ block and gloomy days in the spring when a writer sits all alone in her office watching the rain and wishing for a chat around a water cooler. I started thinking about “promotion shock” and how we all have to adjust to it. I started thinking.well, you get the idea. That’s when I realized that “Stairway” is, in fact, a good how-to book for writers. You won’t nod off when you’re reading this one. David Leonhardt, the author, can write! This man knows what he is talking about. And this guy is wholly, totally and completely an upper of the unmedicated kind.
The fact that Leonhardt is a speaker shines through on every page. His book includes pop quizzes, exercises, fables, quotes and what he calls “cave-style cartoons.” If you’re a woman, you will want to pay special attention to the section called “Shine Like a Diamond.” It’s full of anecdotes that will inspire you. This book is also full of wisdom. Trust me, when you NEED an upper, you’ll need this on the nightstand by your bed, right next to your journal.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a columnist for The Pasadena Star News and Home Decor Buyer. You can find more about her first novel, This is the Place, and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered at www.tlt.com/authors/carolynhowardjohnson.htm. The novel has been called “…fabulous…” by Valerie Susan Hayward, Consultant and former Senior Editor at Halequin/Silhouette. .