Writing about books about writing
This week’s writing about writing post on webstuff4writers.com asks for book recommendations. The focus isn’t just on good writing however. It’s on good writing about writing. There are a lot of writing resource books out there: books about how to sell your poetry, how to be a freelance journalist, how to punctuate your sentences.
On visits to bookstores, I often skim the writing resources shelves but I haven’t actually sampled too many of those on offer. However, when I wrote the original question, there were three books I had in mind.
As a teenager, I loved John Marsden’s Everything I know about writing. John Marsden’s one of my favourite young adult authors, and this book gives insight into his writing process for some of his earlier novels, alongside prompts and exercises for your own writing projects.
Another book that’s particularly relevant at the moment is No Plot! No Problem, by Chris Baty. Chris is the founder of NaNoWriMo – the month long 50,000-word-novel writing extravaganza that starts tomorrow. However, his book has some useful tips about the human side of writing that apply no matter which month you write in. And his talk of rewards allowed me to justify the large quantities of M&Ms I consumed while writing Lessons to Learn.
Finally, I’d recommend Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write. There’s some great advice in there – from keeping morning pages (something I do every now and then when I find myself not writing regularly) to continuing to write while you’re waiting for a response to a submission. I’ve read this book so many times over the years, and yet, every time I finish it, I’m re-inspired to continue writing.
If there are any writing-related books you’d recommend, please leave a comment here, or on the entry at web stuff 4 writers.
Comment by Rebecca Laffar-Smith
November 1, 2007 @ 1:57 am
I love books about writing. I try to read one a week with the intention of reviewing it on The Writer’s Round-About. There are so many fantastic ones. You’ve already had the chance to read some of those reviews.
I think Julia Cameron’s “The Right to Write” is on my shelf waiting to be read and I read “No Plot, No Problem” two years ago. In the spirit of NaNo I’ll have to reread it and review it sometime this month.
I’ve added John Marsden’s book to my wishlist. Feel free to check that out on Amazon if you like. I have a great many writing about writing books on my wishlist. It’s my catalogue of books I’ve taken an interest in and intend to get my hands on at some point.
Oh, and as a side note, you might want to consider affiliating with Amazon and linking to these books as you recommend them. That way lazy cyber highway surfers like me can just click straight there to find out more.