Below is a list of my favorites.
I have many more books, but these I think have given me the most information / inspiration / encouragement.
As you can see from the selection I'm not (yet?) a fiction writer.
ON WRITING WELL - William Zinsser A classic that is as relevant today as it was when it was first published over 30 years ago. A pleasure to read, flows easily and is full of hands-on writing advice for all creative writing and reporting. 'The best book on the Journalism 101 course' is how a journalism student described it to me.
Here is an excerptWRITING ABOUT YOUR LIFE – Willaim Zinsser He brings the same easy readability coupled with writing insights to writing memoirs.
Although I don’t write what are officially called ‘memoirs’, I write a lot of essays and what are essays if not short memoirs?
COURAGE AND CRAFT - Barbara Abercrombie Essay writing
READY AIM SPECIALIZE - Kelly James Enger subtitled ‘create your own writing specialty and make more money’ she shows you how to choose your niche and develop it and also describes the ten most popular specialties and how to break into them.
ON WRITING - Stephen King An autobiography telling how King started writing and all his slip ups and failures on the way, interweaving tips and strategies for writers.
THE RENEGADE WRITER – Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell An unconventional guide to breaking the standard freelancing rules. You have to know what the rules are in order to break them but this book will guide you all the way. From never sending query letters / calling your editor on the telephone etc
GETTING THE WORDS RIGHT - Theodore A. Rees Cheney an excellent book on editing and rewriting
You have made a good post with good information, I found many things in this post.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I just ordered the first one. I can't wait to receive it.
ReplyDeleteKonferens - I'm glad you found the post helpful.
ReplyDeleteCreative Mommy - I'm sure you won't regret buying the book. It's excellent.
(Ann, I think the first commenter was spam.) I like Bill Roorbach's "Writing Life Stories." It has exercises that will help anyone, no matter your genre.
ReplyDeleteI like Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way". There are a lot of exercises to help you become more creative in any kind of art. Not just writing.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed Ann Lamott's "Bird by Bird" which is very funny.
Just last week I ordered "On writing" by Stephan King, funny coincidence! I am glad to see it on your list too.
Thanks for all your ideas - I see I have some more to oder for myself now.
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