This post is a summary of W. Somerset Maugham‘s book The Summing Up, in which he writes in an essay-like fashion on a number of topics related to writing and his life.  Maugham was a prolific writer who had a lot of smart things to say about a great many things as you will soon see. As I read the book it became abundantly clear that Maugham’s insights to writing, life, of adjusting to the market and learning through trial and error, are all of a very high calibre. He was a disciplined guy.

Even though it is a rather short book (ca 200 pages), it is a no-bullshit-straight-to-the-point kind of book that one does not read lightly. Every  page is important and it is easy to lose focus and forgo the point.

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