Exhilarating Prose Cognitions, Contemplations, Insights, Introspections, Lucubrations, Meditations, Musings, Prognostications, Reflections, Reveries & Ruminations on the Process of Writing

This smartly illustrated literary miscellanea is intended to stimulate readers and writers of English prose. From “dead language – the speaks” (i.e., ad-speak, media-speak, corporate-speak) through “re-writing – Again?” to rules (to obey or not to obey), authors Barry Healey and Cordelia Strube examine what makes good and bad writing. With tongue often in cheek, they scrutinize various forms of prose and the seven major prose elements, and reflect on how to approach the writing process most effectively. Exhilarating Prose also abounds with examples of startling writing, wide-ranging quotes from celebrated authors, and their own ruminations on the oddities of writing and the infinite eccentricity of the human mind. To those interested in English words “in their best order” (Coleridge), this book will inform, engage, and amuse.

Barry Healey is a former television writer. He has written, directed, and produced award-winning short films as well as feature films. He is the author of The Sex Life of the Amoeba. Cordelia Strube is a playwright and the author of nine critically acclaimed novels, including Alex and Zee, which was short-listed for the W. H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award; and Teaching Pigs to Sing, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award; and Lemon, which was short-listed for the 2010 Trillium Book Award and long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is a three-time nominee for the ReLit Award and teaches writing at Ryerson University. They both live in Toronto.