Favorite craft books.

Every Friday for Writer Round-Up I've been posting links to my favorite blog posts on writing.  I'd be remiss not to mention my favorite books as well.  So here they are, in no particular order (although I do recommend The Art of War for Writers for anyone just starting out):

I tried to make direct links out of the photos, but couldn't make it work for some reason.  All books are available on Amazon.

Favorite posts of the week.

What Star Trek Can Teach Us About Great Writing by Kristen Lamb

One Piece of Advice by J. Scott Savage

Building a Better Novel Premise at Adventures in Children's Publishing

Writing a Deeper Story at Writers in the Storm (More show vs. tell!)

How Much Time Should a Writer Devote to Social Media by Jody Hedlund

Writing rules.

Utilizing math for the sake of our writing.

How strange that 3 out of the 4 posts that I picked for this week's Writer Round-Up involve counting (3, 10, 40) and technically, even the 4th post implies adding (more).


10 Ways to Avoid Mid-Book Doldrums by Jody Hedlund

More Sacred Cow-Tipping--Common Blogging Misconceptions by Kristen Lamb (a follow-up from this post)

How to Characterize Wrong, in 3 Easy Steps by A. Victoria Mixon, Editor

Forty Questions for a Stronger Manuscript at Adventures in Children's Publishing

The worst poet ever.

Always be a poet, even in prose.
                       ~Charles Baudelaire

I'm so screwed.

It took a long time for me to get to the point where I call myself a writer.  Even so, I don't tend to believe it.  I don't know why I feel as though I must have a book published already in order to truly be a writer.

I don't mind other titles.  I treat art as a hobby and yet I'm artist.  I haven't taken a real dance class in a decade and yet I'm a dancer. I've only sung at church related activities and I'm a singer.  Ok, that feels a bit false too, but I have less problem calling myself a singer than a writer.  I have a degree in creative writing, for crying out loud.  It shouldn't be so hard.

I've been working on it lately.  I call myself a writer even though it doesn't feel quite right.

On the other hand, one thing I'm certain of, I will never call myself a poet.

It's not because I'm modest.  It's because I suck as a poet. Seriously. It is the one type of writing that I seem to have zero aptitude for.

I find poetry beautiful.

I love:
Langston Hughes
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
William Carlos Williams
Gwendolyn Brooks
T. S. Eliot
to name just a handful.

I've spent more time in creative writing classes studying poetry than anything else, from middle school through college, and yet it eludes me.

I think it's because I'm too impatient.  Poetry is like oil paint.  Takes way too long to dry. I'm an acrylic girl myself.

I'm hoping that patience will suddenly kick in right around middle age (I'm getting there.  *gulp*) and I'll miraculously discover a latent talent for poetry.  It could happen, right?

In the meantime I'll have to stick to admiring poetry written by people with actual skill.

Here's one of my favorites:

Harlem [Dream Deferred]

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore --
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over --
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

            ~Langston Hughes.


Gross, yet beautiful.

Do any of you writers suck at an entire branch of creative writing like I do?  Maybe you stink at screenwriting?  Playwriting?  Short stories?  Please help to build me up by knocking yourselves down.  ;-)

I don't have to blog about writing???

It's interesting that all of my favorite blog posts this go-around are about the business of writing instead of the craft.  Either writers are really sympatico or I just wasn't feeling craft this week.

Training to Be a Career Author -- Writing is More than the Writing by Kristen Lamb

Sacred Cow-Tipping -- Why Writers Blogging About Writing is Bad by Kristen Lamb

What Are the Odds...Really?  Taking a Hard Look at Success by Kristen Lamb

Are We Having Fun Yet?  by Rachelle Gardner

Write Your Query FIRST for a Better Book by Camille Noe Pagan

Btw, I'm not going to stop blogging about writing even if Kristen says I don't have to (thank you, Kristen!) because it forces me to solidify my thoughts on writing.  It helps me to take it more seriously too.  Still, it's nice to know that in order to build a writer platform I don't have to blog about writing.  So many "experts" say that an unpublished writer must blog about writing.  (I wonder how many more times I can say the word writing in a paragraph?)  I feel so vindicated!  See here.

Write on.

(Click on the graphic for an awesome post on making time for writing.)

An afternoon in New Orleans.

If all it took to create was surrounding myself with inspiring things then I'd only need to rent a little flat in this beautiful, vibrant city and I'd never stop.

The 97 degree weather, on the other hand, not so inspiring.  

Too many favorites and then I cheated.

Some bloggers were really speaking my name this week (several of them more than once) because I kept falling in love with post after post.

Cliched Writing:  Avoid it Like the Plague by Jody Hedlund

First Page or Last?  Which is More Important? by Jody Hedlund

Scene Antagonists:  The Making of a Hero by Kristen Lamb

R.D.D - Reality Deficit Disorder Can Make Us Crazy by Kristen Lamb

Story vs. Craft by Rachelle Gardner

Write Your Truth by Rachelle Gardner

Physical Cliches by Mary Kole

Been There by Donald Maass

Listen! by Sarah Callender

Here's how I cheated.  I came across a post that wasn't written this past week, but I loved it sooo much I had to include it.  I'm sure it won't be the last time I do that.  So here it is, my amazing cheat of the week:  Monogamy by Sarah Callender.

Aim to fail.

Something posted on Facebook this morning reminded me of a saying I heard at the writers conference in Salt Lake City last month.

If you haven't failed, you haven't lived.

That hits home for me especially hard because fear of failure is one of my biggest weaknesses.  If I think I may not be good at something then I tend not to try at all.

Oh, and by the way?  In the past, failure hasn't only meant not succeeding at a task. It's meant not being the best at that task.  Or at least the promise of being the best.

Yeah.

I bet you can begin to imagine just how many new experiences I've never had because it wasn't clear right from the get-go that I was destined to be some sort of savant.  (Insert eye roll here.)

The problem with that, outside of being heinously self-centered (Do I really need to be the best at everything?  Seriously?), is that I hear over and over that the biggest indicator of success as a writer isn't talent, but doing the work.  Actually sitting down and writing.

Not talking about writing.
Not reading about writing.
Not writing about writing.

Although those things are certainly helpful.

It doesn't matter how much promise we have to be the next best writer if we refuse to allow ourselves to fail.  If we fail to fail then we have no shot at succeeding.

If we're unwilling to work on our manuscripts because every sentence doesn't shimmer right out of the gate or because our plots have more holes than a box of Krispy Kremes then innate talent's not good for much of anything.

Thomas Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors in history and yet it is said that it took him thousands of tries to get the incandescent lightbulb right.  About his work he said, "If I find 10,000 ways something doesn't work, I haven't failed. I'm not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

As writers we should look at our writing in the same way.  We need to aim to fail.  Every misstep and subsequent correction is another step forward on the path to becoming stronger, more seasoned writers.