Reference Books for Writers

Recently I attended a writer's conference in Tampa and one of the attendees kindly shared his list of his favorite books for writers. It's a pretty comprehensive list though it doesn't include my favorite, Elizabeth George's Write Away. Any others I should add?

1. Make Your Words Work, by Gary Provost. (Excellent for fiction and non-fiction)
2. Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein
3. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King
4. Write in Style, by Bobbie Christmas
5. How to Grow a Novel, by Sol Stein
6. The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman
7. Stephen King on Writing
8. Elements of Fiction Writing/ Characters and Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
9. Elements of Fiction Writing//Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell
10. Elements of Fiction Writing/ Dialog by Gloria Kempton
11. The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White, fourth edition
12. The Complete Guide to Editing Your Fiction, by Michael Seidman
13. The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, Writer's Digest Books 2002
14. The Handbook of Good English, by Edward D. Jonhson (grammer)
15. How I Write by Janet Evanovich
16. The Chicago Manuel of Style, 15th edition, University of Chicago Press
17. Writer's Market, Writer's Digest Books
18. Harbrace College Handbook (mine is 3rd edition, 1951)
19. Printice-Hall Handbook for Writers Leggett/ Mead
20. Elements of Writing, Complete Course by Kinneavy and Warriner

We have a new baby...

No, it's not the hunky stud muffin sleeping with his mouth ajar. It's Gin Gin, our 10 week old calico. Isn't she cute? She's the reason I'm late blogging this morning. Had to get up early and get her to the vet. She's been sick the last couple of days and we were very worried about her. Turns out she has a cold. The vet said it could be caused by stress at being taken away from her mother, being spayed, and brought into a new home. So, we loaded up with antibiotics, worming medicine, nose drops and saline solution for her eyes and came home.

I took this picture a couple days ago. Caught my hubby, who doesn't really care for cats or so he says, and Gin Gin taking a snooze. Hubby wasn't too pleased as he has a reputation to uphold. You know, the big tough he-man syndrome. They've already formed a strong bond and it's cute watching how he looks over her like a mother hen.

Life is good...

I got my monthly pedicure, haircut, it's sci-fi Saturday and I get to babysit my little granddaughter tonight. My cup is full, what more could I want?

What do you know?

There is a ton of advice available to beginning writers. We've all heard it before...show don't tell, keep active rather than passive and on and on. There's really no end to the pearls of wisdom to be had when it comes to writing. But you know, I think there may be too much advice given. Really, I do.

Why not simply write from the heart, without paying overmuch attention to the mechanics of it all? Oh, I can hear teeth gnashing, hands wringing and gasps of outrage at the thought! Writing might be much more satisfying without worries about correlating advice tidbit #16 with # 64, meshing items 32, 96 and 113 with #s 44, 28 and ... you get the idea.

My advice? Just let it happen. The rest will fall into place eventually.

When I began writing for publication I was in high school, and taking advice was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted to write, period. So I did. Unconsciously, though, I took in what may have been the most important piece of writing advice I have ever gotten. It's one that everyone has been given.

Write what you know.

Simple, isn't it? At first, most people think But I don't know anything anyone would be interested in reading. But that's not true. We're all fascinated by other people's lives, thoughts, ideas, experiences. And most people know more than they think they do!

I write mysteries because I love to solve puzzles. I write romance because that's a subject I know first hand, thanks to my wonderful husband. My curiousity about history leads me to write historical romance. My characters often have interests that I have. They garden, watch old films, spend time on the water and at the beach. They talk about seashells, in other languages and opera. See? They know some neat stuff just because I write what I know.

What do you know? I bet it's more than enough to feed a writing bug!

Whether the weather?

Bob Hope used to say "England has four seasons - all of them in one day!" It had me thinking about the weather - and how this affects writers. It certainly is used by film makers. Think of the film Body Heat and imagine it set anywhere else but steamy Florida. Just would not work.

The glorious romantic novel Wuthering Heights could not be set anywhere else but the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors. That damp, wind swept, empty landscape lends itself to this passionate romance. The Yorkshire Moors is a place of dramatic weather.

Tuesday here in England, it was pouring with rain - yesterday the sun came out and it was blissfully warm. I was walking in the hills beyond the coastal strip of Morecambe Bay - a place of dangerous tides and shifting sands and magnificent views. You would write a different scene if it were a stormy day, yesterday the area looked quite benign and a gentle scene would be easy to put together.

Thomas Hardy, the great English novelist, uses the weather and the seasons effectively. Think Tess of the D'Urbavilles. When (I always think) the drippy Angel Clair sees her for the first time, she is dancing in a sun speckled meadow - so different from her in hard times, digging for turnips in a cold, frosty field in mid-winter. Gone is the happy carefree milkmaid.

I like to set books in warm climes when I can - I love the heat myself and feel happy then. But the winter storms can be very useful for scenes that require mystery, tension and suspense. There is something frightening about that bare tree tap tapping on the window pane. The wind whistling under the door...bound to have the reader asking. "What is going to happen?"

How boring it would be, I think to have no changing seasons at all - to have summer all year round, no rain - no glorious pictures of frost sparkling on the evergreen, what would film makers do? What would writers do?

Short Story Markets

I love short stories. My favorite is "For Esmé with Love and Squalor" by J. D. Salinger. Originally published in The New Yorker on April 8, 1950, it’s the kind of tale that lives on in your heart long after you’ve read it.

That was a golden time for short stories. I’ve been writing short stories for thirty years and have to admit the markets aren’t as lucrative as they used to be. But they are out there. A good link for researching where to submit is http://www.duotrope.com/

I write inspirational, literary, mystery and romance stories and have been excited to see some new markets. Last year I had stories in some brand new mystery magazines: Mouth Full of Bullets and The Great Mystery and Suspense Magazine. What a great experience! A new market for romance stories is The Wild Rose Press and both Sarita and I have published with them. Last year Whiskey Creek Press put out an anthology called Hope that was just chock full of inspirational stories. And new literary magazines are constantly appearing.

So if you write short stories, be persistent, study magazines, and submit. You just may be the next J.D.

Tuesday thoughts

Just a few writing-related quotes for a rainy Tuesday. Yes, it's raining in NY.



"Writing is a dog's life, but the only life worth living." — Gustave Flaubert



"Half of my life is an act of revision." — John Irving



"I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork." — Peter De Vries



"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." — Richard Bach