Meg Files gives the push needed to enable any writer to take a risk, which, as she says, is the secret to real writing. However, more than being a pep-talk in a thousand words or less, this is a HANDBOOK to GOOD WRITING. It covers practical matters, style, voice, substance, and challenges you at every level. This book is wonderfully insightful into the writing process, particularly the fears that will hinder a writer, regardless of experience level. I sent one to my mother and she called me two days later to say that after reading the book she had to stop everything and sit down and write a story she'd been wanting to write for 72 years! Give this book to anyone you love who yearns to write. Keep a copy yourself.

" Absolutely the most accurate, honest portrayal of writing from the heart and all the fears that accompany the lifestyle. Files opens so many doors and windows, offering a true glimpse into the depths of writing and using what you know- even when you're afraid to 'go there'.

We all have life experience and stories to tell. Meg Files leads you down the path of successful interpretation and teaches us all how to draw out the good work from our brains. The biggest lesson learned from Write from Life was to write naked, write from the essence of our very souls and not worry about everyone else's opinions."

- Michelle Hall, Writer & Editor for ABP

An inspiring guide for writers at every level. Meg Files goes beyond the "How to" genre and delves into the writers psyche to explore the ways many of us try to limit ourselves creatively. Sometimes Ms. Files plays the stern writing professor with specific advice --("Stay at the desk, just stay at the desk"), and compelling writing exercises (worth the price of the book just for these) other times she is the pragmatic therapist ("writer's block is just fear of writing badly") but mostly she is the strong voice of a compassionate and knowledgeable friend.

Throughout the book you will find specific and useful advice on everything from jump-starting your own writing to how to take (and deliver) criticism, dealing with fear of failure and how to define your own success (hint: not usually tied to publication thankfully). I'm glad this is the first writing book I read in the New Year -- I feel charged up and ready to rumble! Good reading!

Meg Files writes great fiction: important, moving, and entertaining. This book is full of high-stakes danger, choices, and consequence. It's bravely written, scary, page-turning novel with a strong and admirable young woman (and dog) braving the worst odds, and surviving.

In this excellent apocalyptic story, writting during a time when the Soviet Union was supposedly the worst threat to Liberty and the American way of life, Files supposed the tables had turned, that the Middle East would become the source of annihilation. Too close for comfort in these turbulent times, that dis-ease with world events plays out in the ultimate disaster novel. Through the miasma of human hubris that wipes out life as we know it, the heroine discovers herself, comes to grips with her past, and defines her future. The novel is fluid and brilliant, tightly woven, touching to the end. Non-stop flight. Four thumbs-up.

When my boss, Meg Files, told me that she'd found her book online, I was excited. Then she told me which review you chose to use. There were several good reviews, and only one bad one. You chose the bad one. I'd like to offer some excerpts from two other reviews.

From the Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 14, 1991, reviewer Carolyn See.

"This is a fine, sad, interesting novel. And lest anyone think that it's out of date, Files simply has changed all the Russians to Arabs and Jews, so the end of the world scenario plays out quite nicely. This book won't change the world, but it will make you think about it. The novel is aces: Courageous, imaginative, nervy, admirable."

From The Bloomsbury Review, January/February 1992, reviewer Anne A. Busch.

"[The main character's] mind travels through her childhood and the confines it gives her as an adult.

Files paints a poignant portrait of a mother/daughter love/hate relationship. The painful struggles she portrays moved this reader to tears....The author gently weaves [the main character's] mental catharsis with vivid adventure and keeps the reader wanting more....This reader experienced the ups and downs of the character and began to ponder her own relationships with her mother and daughter."

As I'm sure you can see from these two brief excerpts, Meg Files's Meridian 144 is not the dull, agonizing book that your chosen reviewer made it out to be. Meg makes readers think, care, and cry about her main character's plight after her world is destroyed.

Files' collection of short stories contains perhaps two or three truly memorable stories; the rest are good, but hampered by a certain self-concious artistry. Most of the characters seem to have something dark hidden in their past, and this reader would perfer a more subtle touch. However, there are certain scenes that come back to me days after having read the collection. All in all, worth reading.