安徽科学技术出版社从美国独家引进的英文版《心灵鸡汤》系列读物，全球热销8000万册。本书语言地道新颖，简约易懂，优美流畅；故事生动有趣，寓意深刻感人，内容极富时代感。本书中的几百个故事会引你们进入爱与感动的深情世界，会使你们活得充满激情；会使你们更有信心地去追求梦想。在面临挑战、遭受挫折之时，这本书会给你以力量；在彷徨、痛苦和失落之际，这本书会给你以慰藉。

此外，作为英语阅读的顶级精品，本套书深得广大读者的推崇与喜爱，广受各方的赞誉和褒奖：被评为“2001年度全国优秀畅销书”；被评为“2001年度全国引进版优秀畅销丛书”；荣获“2002年度全国引进版社科类优秀图书奖”；被评为“2004年度全国优秀畅销书”；在国家九部委联合举办的“中华全民读书书目推荐活动”中，一举入围《2004知识工程推荐书目》；多次荣登各大新华书店的畅销书排行榜。本书是《心灵鸡汤》之《作家是怎样炼成的英文原版》。

Maybe once in a lifetime, along comes a book that makes a real difference in the life of a writer. Chicken Soup or the Writer’s Soul is that book. The mission of this book-- to turn you, America and the world onto the value of writing--has attracted some of the finest authors in the world to share their stories with you. You’ll recognize many of their ames because you have read their work before. However, ou may not know how they began writing, struggled to get ublished, faced rejection, focused hard on their own work, nd finally realized their dreams by becoming published uthors. They have revealed their life stories here for you.

You’ll learn how Sue Grafton wrote six unpublished novels before she sold ’ A’ Is for Alibi, the first of fifteen bestselling mystery novels. Or read how Steve Allen, a TV personality and author of more than fifty books and 8, 000 songs, was accused of plagiarism; how Catherine Lanigan overcame a university professor’s cruelty to--after waiting fourteen years--publish bestsellers Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile; how Ernest J. Gaines, who couldn’t go into a public library until he was fifteen years of age, checked out his first book and declared "I’m going to be a writer" and is now an icon in American literature; how Barnaby Conrad helped shape the young Alex Haley’s writing career; how Gene Perret practiced writing hundreds of jokes for Bob Hope long before Bob Hope ever hired him; how Hugh Prather, frustrated with his writing career, began writing personal notes that became his bestseller Notes to Myself, eventually selling five million copies; how John Tullius’s uncle mentored him toward a fulfilling writing career; and how Lois Duncan wrote her way through college, tripling her income as she learned.

These and many, many more great stories await you.

As you read these marvelous stories, you, too, will feel their passion and will be inspired to try your own hand at writing. You will begin to find your own writing voice, to experience value moments ("Ahas! ") as you write, to overcome rejection, to gain the courage to persevere, and, by writing fine stories, youll remake a world. We urge you to read these stories over and over again to capture the valuable lessons, insights and wisdom found within.

We believe this book will sustain you during times of challenge, frustration and failure, and will guide you to new levels of seeing, feeling, perceiving and being. We hope Writer’s Soul will become your life-long companion, inspiring you to open your heart and rekindle your spirit again and again, motivating you to become the best writer you can possibly be. In short, let this legacy of heartfelt stories touch you deeply, enabling you to clearly understand, as writer Jennifer Martin puts it so well in this book, "how sacred is the written word that paints portraits on our souls. "

Introduction

1. HOW I BECAME A WRITER

Ronny’s Book

A Writer’s Journey

Vindication

1,600 Articles Ago

At Aunt Jennie’s Knee

The Writer’s Song

Write--To Conquer Your Fear

From an Abyss to the Mountain Top

Why I Write

We Were All Beginners Once

2. LIVING YOUR DREAM

Alex Haley--A Writer of Destiny

Dreams Do Come True

Dreams Lost and Found

Dreams Have a Price

For Love or Money

Take That Chance!

3. DEFINING MOMENTS

A Serendipitous Visit to Revelation Island

Writing Can Be Magic

Papa’s Gift

You Can’t Afford to Doubt Yourself

A Perfect Night to Die

A Chat with Alex Haley

Cash Rewards

Why I Keep Writing

4. FINDING YOUR VOICE

It Doesn’t Matter What You Write

Legacy

A Writer’s Real Worth Is Inside

Writer, Teacher, Peaceful Warrior

Counsel from a Veteran of the Writing Wars

Coded Messages and Kindred Spirits

5. MENTORS

A Gift to Myself

My Dad Story

Writing from the Heart

Accused of Plagiarism--My Highest Compliment 

Sometimes the Biggest Are the Nicest

So Long Lives This

From Noah’s Ark Writer to Bestseller

Angels over My Keyboard

6. MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Painting Portraits on Our Souls

The Boy Who Saved Thousands of Lives

The Christmas Box

Writers in Prison

A Season with the Great Sinclair Lewis

Dean Has AIDS--A Father’s Story

7. OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

In Spite of It All

The Professor and Me

You’re a Loser, Cunningham

The Obsession

Sometimes Secret Writers

How to Write Your Way Through College

A New Yardstick

Writing Is My Destiny

Writing for My Health

8. A WRITER’S LIFE

Still Standing

A Man Called Charlie Black

Mixed Blessings

Be Ready When Your Editor Calls

Helen Help Us!

A Bucket Full of Research

Making a ’Pottment

Summertime, and the Writin’s NOT Easy

Marriage and Metaphors: A Writer’s Life On and Off the Pages

9. THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE

A Strange Thing Happened on the Way to OK

Nothing Comes Easy

The Courage of the Long-Distance Writer

So He Must Be Right, Huh?

Mommy, Please Write a Book for Me

No One Faces Rejection More Often than an Author

Learning from Rejection

Consider This

Some People Just Can’t Take a Hight

How I Want to Be Remembered

10. INSIGHTS AND LESSONS

The House on Phoenix Circle

Nothing Unconnected Lasts

Lesson of a Lifetime

The Flop Artist Writer

The Miraculous Link

Power Lounging

The Gift

How to Be Madder than Captain Ahab

Acknowledgments