Good writing is first learned by reading good books. You fall in love with a well-told story and are swept away.
The next step—actually trying it—comes later, and is learned by reading crummy books. That’s right. You read a clumsily-told story—one that is too stupid to be published but IS, with a beautiful cover—and you shake your head. “Dang,” you say to yourself. “I can do better than that.” So one day you get up the nerve and try.
Writing is a craft more than a talent. Bit by bit you learn and grow and move forward. As busy as I am at school—ha, teaching writing!—I must fight to stay in the writing mindset. And I must work at it every day.
This summer was my first with a Kindle, and when I discovered the Text-to-Speech feature, I was hooked. Listening to How-To books while I drive, process laundry, and prepare meals allows me to redeem empty time. And besides, what writer doesn’t need encouragement?
Here is this summer’s “listening” list. I’ll be back to add comments about each later.
James Scott Bell, Writing Fiction for All You’re Worth: Strategies and Techniques for Taking Your Fiction to the Next Level [Kindle only]
James Scott Bell, Write Great Fiction – Plot & Structure
Larry Brooks, Story Engineering
Mark Coker, Smashwords Style Guide – How to Format Your Ebook (Smashwords Guides) [Kindle only, FREE]
Scott Nicholson, ed., Write Good or Die [Kindle only, FREE]
Zoe Winters, Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author [Kindle only]
Stephanie Zia, How To Publish An Ebook On A Budget – An Author’s Guide to the Free Yet Professional Way of Getting Your Writing Up For Sale on Kindle, iBooks, NOOK, Apps, Smashwords and more [Kindle only]
