I guess it’s no surprise there are so many books about writing. We writers need something to write about, and some of us write about writing. And then the rest of us read about it.
Writing is a craft that I continually work at. In college I majored in journalism, and since then I have continued to take writing classes (both in person and online), participate in professional writers’ groups and online forums, and sometimes in local writers groups.
And I also read how other people have succeeded as writers. How they do it. Their tips.
They’re just like us, most of those other writers. We’re all just people sitting in front of a yellow pad of paper or a laptop, starting with a blank screen and a head full of ideas. Reading about how some people have accomplished what they’ve done has, over the years, helped me set goals for my own writing, and reach high.
I could read about writing, instead of sitting down and actually writing, until the cows come home. (“What cows?” asked my four-year-old with a puzzled look when I used that expression the other day.) It’s a terrific means of procrastination.
Here are just some of the books on my shelves, which I’ve loosely grouped into categories. Some of these books are better than others. Many I’ve reread, and learned from or been inspired by.
BUSINESS
You are only a hobbyist, and will get nowhere as a freelance writer, until you accept that it’s a business and you need to be businesslike (in setting goals, where you focus your efforts, calculating your overhead and knowing how much to charge, protecting your copyrights, handling accounting, paying taxes and much more). Some creative sorts have to really force themselves to buckle down and learn the business aspect of being a self-employed writer. Here are some books that can help:
- The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing, ed. by Timothy Harper
- This Business of Writing, by Gregg Levoy
- Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer, by Jenna Glazer
- Six-Figure Freelancing, by Kelly James-Enger
BY WRITERS ABOUT WRITING
I don’t know how to group these books, some of which inspired and convinced me I could quit the day job and live happily as a writer.
- Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
- The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard
- If You Want to Write, by Brenda Ueland
- Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande
- Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg
- Living the Writer’s Life, by Natalie Goldberg
- Thunder and Lightning, Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft, by Natalie Goldberg
- Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury
- Making a Literary Life, by Carolyn See
- On Writing, by Stephen King
- No Mentor But Myself: Jack London on Writing and Writers, ed. by Dale L. Walker and Jeanne Campbell Reesman
FICTION/NOVEL WRITING
What pondering these titles from my bookshelf tells me is that I have long wanted to delve more into fiction and novel-writing. But I knew that already. Maybe I’ll reread some of these and get started soon.
- On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner
- On Teaching and Writing Fiction, by Wallace Stegner
- The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner
- Writing the Novel, by Lawrence Block
- Writing Fiction, by Janet Burroway
- How to Write a Book Proposal, by Michael Larsen
- The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, ed. by Meg Leder, Jack Heffron and the editors of Writer’s Digest
MAGAZINE/NEWSPAPER WRITING
I have done an awful lot of this. I started out writing an occasional freelance piece for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and then got a regular freelance gig working for Hilo’s Hawaii Tribune-Herald, where I wrote features and entertainment articles every week. Like most newspapers it paid poorly but, in retrospect, it was terrific in teaching me how to just sit down and do it. I also got over my reluctance to call people when I had several articles due each week. That was worth it all right there.
After that I started writing for magazines. More interesting, more in-depth, more time for craft. Yet it still doesn’t pay enough to pay the bills. I know there are a few people who only write for national magazines and make a good living, but that’s not the norm. If magazine freelancing is your plan, you’d better have some other income, too.
- The Art and Craft of Feature Writing, by William E. Blundell
- Writing for Story, by Jon Franklin
- Creative Nonfiction, by Philip Gerard
- Story, by Robert McKee
- Handbook of Magazine Article Writing, ed. by Jean Fredette
- You Can Write a Column, by Monica McCabe Cordoza
- The Renegade Writer, by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell
- Travel Writing, See the World, Sell the Story, by L. Peat O’Neil
- Literary Journalism, ed. by Norman Sims and Mark Kramer
MEMOIR
- Living to Tell the Tale, A Guide to Writing Memoir, by Jane Taylor McDonnell
- Inventing the Truth, the Art and Craft of Memoir, ed. by William Zinsser
ON WRITERS
It’s aways fun to read how other writers do it. Computer? Typewriter? Pencil and pen? These books are much more than just that, though.
- Writers on Writing, Collected Essays from the New York Times
- The Writer on Her Work, by Janet Sternberg
- The New New Journalism, ed. by Robert S. Boynton
COPYWRITING
A lot of my work these days falls under the category of copywriting. These books were somewhat interesting as I started out writing for businesses, but I’ve found that I figured out a lot of it by myself, along the way. The Well-Fed Writer is currently a bible to some copywriters.
- The $100,000 Writer, by Nancy Flynn
- The Well-Fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman
- Secrets of a Freelance Writer, by Bob Bly
- The Copywriter’s Handbook, by Bob Bly
RADIO
This is one of the few books from my long-ago college journalism days that I’ve kept. I have worked in public (and commercial) radio a little bit, and really enjoyed it. I keep the book in case I get back into it one day. Cool book.
- Telling the Story, the National Public Radio Guide to Radio Journalism
LASTLY
And, my favorite title of all though (to be honest) I don’t remember a thing about the book itself:
- Too Lazy To Work, Too Nervous to Steal, How to have a great life as a freelance writer, by John Clausen
