Hello all! Welcome back to this blog.
This week is the final stretch before Christmas, as is celebrated by yours truly.
I have been on my usual predicaments, writing and reading, and more writing, and editing, but I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite writing-craft books.
So, if you are thinking about giving a book to your favorite author/reader, feel free to pick one, or several, of these books. I’ll share a bit of my opinion about them, of course…
1. ‘Bird by Bird’ by Anne Lamott
I wish I could just share the impact of this book with you. This is a book for writer’s and for writer’s friends and family. It helps others understand a bit of what ails us.
Written by Anne Lamott, which I am a fan, and have read most of her other books also, never feeling disappointed by any of those. But I do feel this ‘Bird by Bird’ had made a great impact in me and in my writing.
If you like writerly themes, if you have an aspiring author in your life, if you want to gift someone with a great book about the writing craft, this is the book for you.
2. ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron
Is it a book? Is it a course? Is it guidance from above? All of those. I found this book in a very tricky phase of my life.
I was going through some life altering changes, and doubting myself, and my writing efforts. This book got me through a lot of doubts. It helped me get in line with my program and devote myself to my writing efforts, respecting myself as a creative person.
This is a book for people who lost or are losing hope in their creativity. I can’t recommend it enough.
3. ‘Writing Fiction for Dummies’ by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy
What can I say? Everybody is a dummy before learning to be something else.
This book has so many basics about writing and creating our stories, and methods, and writing techniques, and themes, and loads of other important information that is hard to list them all. I found this book very enlightening and go back to it repeatedly.
If you want to know some basics of the writing craft this is the book for you.
4. ‘The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art’ by Joyce Carol Oates
Having the undiluted view of a writer about her craft, and how it impacts life, it’s a priceless gift.
Through this book we get to learn how struggles make our path in writing a true one. Oates guides us through our most recurrent themes, showing us that it’s our faith and our devotion to reading and learning that get us through the difficult patches.
It’s a must read.
5. ‘Letters to a Young Writer’ by Rainer Maria Rilke
To have a teacher as Rilke telling us about devotion to our writing craft, in this particular case directed towards a young wanna be poet, is touching.
Life, writing, devotion, work, all are themes for Rilke to discourse upon, and for us to accept the vision of a very wise man.
You’ll find nuggets of wisdom that will make ou wonder how this could be…
6. ‘Why I write’ by George Orwell
A book made of several essays but it’s this ‘Why I Write’ that allows us to discern how Orwell’s thought about the writing craft.
It’s a very enlightening essay, full of technical questions and subsequent answers. The big premise of them all being inserted by the list of reasons that get someone to became a writer.
It’s a must read essay about the writing life and craft.
7. ‘How to read Literature like a Professor’ by Thomas C. Foster
Oh! This was a fun book to read. As a true Professor, Foster knows how to captivate his audience and make us see what might have been lost because of sheer boredom.
His way of handling the writing subjects, the meanings behind techniques and making us look for just good, unbiased, writing, is a gift for all that get to read this title.
I do recommend it if you are an aspiring author. It made a huge impact in me.
8. ‘Turning Pro’ by Steven Pressfield
Turning Pro is the nudge we all need to get in touch with our life’s program. Pressfield writes about his life and his experience in becoming a well-known writer.
There are some powerful lessons inside this book. No sugarcoating the thing, no handling with care, no lies about what we need to accept in our live’s if we want to pursue the writing craft.
It’s an eye opener of sorts. I do recommend it most vividly.
9. ‘Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear’ by Elizabeth Gilbert
This is road trip through all of our most ingrained fears and tremors about the writing life. Always reaching for a positive and transformative point of view on all matters, Gilbert help us having a new perspective of the writer’s life choices.
There are myths in here being debunked with the personal flair of this writer.
It’s a fun and helpful book if you are an aspiring writer.
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I hope you found these suggestions inspiring. I’m always on the look out for other favorites so, let me know if you have one to suggest.
Let me know if you read any of these and your opinion about them. And, please feel free to suggest a few of your favorite books on the writing-craft.
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Bye and Keep writing! ✍🏼
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