Every time I read a book that's supposed to be inspiring for writers, I find it sort of discouraging. That's never the author's intention, of course, and I don't think it was Steve King's intention with this book at all. But he practically came out of the womb with a pen in hand, and his "failures" all happened before he was out of school. He says that if you use too many adverbs then you're a bad writer, and if you're a bad writer you'll never be a good writer. And if you're a passable writer you might become good some day, but you'll never be great. Whatever, Steve. I'm aiming to go from bad to great. I'm reaching for the stars, even if I can never touch them. 
 I like that he went into detail about what not to do. So much writing advice is about what not to do, and most of it is vague. Don't use adverbs. Don't write awkward dialogue. Don't use too much description. Don't use the passive voice. Don't do this, don't do that. Steve at least tells you why. It's a lot harder to find examples of what you should do. It was interesting to see an example of his "rough" writing and the specific changes he would make to it, but it wasn't actually very helpful. Crossing out a sentence here and there isn't going to improve the underlying story much. It was interesting to learn that he writes by the seat of his pants, which makes perfect sense for him, but it's not a tactic that works well for someone like me. He doesn't find writing groups terribly useful, but I definitely do. 
 I'm making it sound as though I didn't like this book. I really did. It was fun to peek inside the brain and life of a hugely successful writer. I just recognize that some of what he had to say will be really useful for me (writing is telepathy so be clear with it; brush up on your grammar; remember your priorities and take care of yourself) and some of it won't. 
 It was interesting to hear a bit of his life story, especially the horrible accident he suffered. Poor guy. The most inspiring thing was hearing that even he has to shelve stories sometimes or beat his head against them. Even Stephen King has experienced (and still does experience) self doubt. It seems to be the universal trait of writers. It's good to know I'm not alone.