GOOD WRITING RESOURCES

I have this nagging habit of buying writing self-help books.  My office at home is chock full of them, and hundreds of other non-fiction books I have collected over the years.  There are obviously thousands of resources out there to help fledgling writers find their voice.  Today I want to share a number of books that have proven to be instrumental in helping me along my writing journey.  ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT by horror writer Stephen King is surprisingly good, and I'm not sure many folks know it exists.  INVENTING THE TRUTH: THE ART AND CRAFT OF THE MEMOIR by William Zinsser is an industry favorite.  Zinsser has been around a long time.  Another good Zinsser book is ON WRITING WELL, one I had in hand very early in my writing career.  BIRD BY BIRD: SOME INSTRUCTIONS ON WRITING AND LIFE by San Francisco writer Annie Lamott is honest, easy to read, and very helpful (I like most of her work).  WRITING LIFE STORIES by Bill Roorbach is another good one.  One handbook I would like to plug is JUMP START: HOW TO WRITE FROM EVERYDAY LIFE by Robert Wolf, President of Free River Press, Lansing, Iowa (disclaimer: Robert gave me my first break when he agreed to take on publishing my ROGUES ISLAND MEMOIR, which debuted way back in 2000).  A really fantastic resource is WRITING TOOLS: 50 ESSENTIAL STRATEGIES FOR EVERY WRITER by Roy Peter Clark.  I strongly recommend grabbing a copy of this book.

Of course, there simply is no substitute for reading as much as you possibly can, among a wide variety of genres, and simply getting down to the task of writing.  The books above are great instruments and motivational tools, but it is still necessary to put down all the "how to do it" guidelines and just get to it.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Happy Writing!

Rod H.