Living By Learning About Writing

I couldn’t start a writing project without acquiring a stack of books on writing. I’ve been collecting books on writing for years, but now that I’m determined to write a novel I just had to order a few more!

Here is my current list of books and online resources for writers.

Reference:

• Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., E.B. White
• Bartlett’s Roget’s Thesaurus
• Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary
• How Not To Write: The Essential Misrules of Grammar by William Safire
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
• The Borzoi Handbook for Writers by Frederick Crews, Sandra Schor, and Michael Hennessy
• Getting The Words Right: 39 Ways To Improve Your Writing by Theodore A. Reese Cheney
• Dictionary.com
• Merriam-Webster Online
• Bartleby.com Quotations
• Chicago Manual of Style
• Thesaurus.com
• Link to 55 Top Reference Websites

Books on Writing:

• Writing the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
• bird by bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich with Ina Yalof
• The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction To Life by Noah Lukeman
• Writing without teachers by Peter Elbow
• How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead: Your Words In Print and Your Name in Lights by Ariel Gore
• No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty
• Write To The Point And Feal Better About Your Writing: Entertaining, helpful, encouraging; For Writers of papers, reports, books; What to write about, how to write it; Organization, important grammar and punctuation by Bill Stott
• The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing: Everything you need to know about creating and selling your work by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron, and the Editors of Writer’s Digest
• Now Write!: Fiction Writing Exercises From Today’s Best Writers & Teachers edited by Sherry Ellis
• Plot & Structure: Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish by James Scott Bell
• Idea Book: How to develop great ideas for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplays by Jack Heffron
• Great Writers on the Art of Fiction: From Mark Twain to Joyce Carol Oates edited by James Daley
• The Writer’s Chapbook: A Compedium of Fact, Opinion, wit, and Advice from the 20th Century’s Preeminent Writers edited from The Paris Review interviews and with an Introduction by George Plimpton
• The Complete Guide To Writing Nonfiction by The American Society of Journalists and Authors edited by Glen Evans
• Writing to Change the World by Mary Pipher
• Keeping A Journal You Love by Sheila Bender
• Dialogue: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Effective Dialogue (Write Great Fiction) by Gloria Kempton

Young Writers:

• Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Favorite authors reveal their writing secrets by Sandy Asher, illustrations by Susan Hellard
• Writing Stories: Fantastic Fiction from Start to Finish by David L. Harrison
• Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing To Change Themselves and the World Around Them by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
• Write Source: A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning Written and compiled by Dave Kemper, Patrick Sebranek, and Verne Meyer. Illustrated by Chris Krenzke.
• Writers Express: A Handbook for Young Writers, Thinkers, and Learners Written and Compiled by Dave Kemper, Ruth Nathan, Carol Elsholz, and Patrick Sebranek. Illustrated by Chris Krenzke.
• Books on Writing for Children by Ralph Fletcher inspire me as much as my children. I’m looking forward to reading and working through the newest addition to this series is How to Write Your Life Story.

Writer’s Websites:

• Daily Writing Tips
• Writer’s Digest
• The Literary Times
• Booksquare
• The Association of Authors’ Representatives
• 101 Best Websites for Writers 2007

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