Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Old Friends on My Shelf


In looking for something snappy and reasonably intelligient to blog about, I began digging through my collection of books on writing. I know I've talked about this before, but every time I go back to these books, I'm surprised and pleased.
This time it was like reacquainting myself with a group of old friends. An hour or so later I sat cross legged on the floor of my office. I'd visited with Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Annie Lamott, Don Maass, Sue Grafton, Nancy Pickard, and finally found myself wonderfully surprised by a little book called Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See.
There's something about reading another writer's advice, OK, reading another writer's paragraphs about procrastination, blinding insecurity and the fervent desire to throttle the bejesus out of her critics--there's something about this that does my heart good. And if I get a little craft advice along the way, I can use it!

6 comments:

Mark Terry said...

My preferred ones are:

"Make Your Words Work" by Gary Provost

"The Well-Fed Writer" by Peter Bowerman

"Telling Lies for Fun & Profit" by Lawrence Block

"Spider, Spin Me A Web" by Lawrence Block

Joe Moore said...

You're right, Susan. Pausing to listen to another author's advice once in a while can help reaffirm or confirm. My favorite to visit is ON WRITING by Stephen King.

Sue Ann Jaffarian said...

I agree, it confirms that we are not alone in our madness.

Susan Goodwill said...

Gary Provost was amazing. He left us too soon, but his workshop lives on in Kentucky.
http://www.writersretreatworkshop.com/

G.M. Malliet said...

Carolyn See writes book reviews for the Washington Post, and I always read her reviews. Not as reviews, either, or not strictly as reviews. She is simply a wonderful writer and often very funny.

Keith Raffel said...

I'll check out Making a Literary Life. Thanks. Susan.