HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR YOUNG WRITERS (PART ONE)
Not sure what to get that young/budding/amateur writer in your life? Here are my top recommendations.
On Technique (Resources, Lessons, and Prompts)
The Describer’s Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms & Literary Quotations (Expanded Second Edition)
The dictionary uses a unique reverse definition-to-term format that makes it easy to zero in on the term you’re seeking. Turn to the new section on sensory impressions, for example, to find vivid terms for “loud or jarring.”
And at the end of each section dozens of illustrative passages by notable fiction and nonfiction authors—including Donna Tartt, Michael Lewis, Zadie Smith, Khaled Hosseini, and Paul Theroux—bring the terminology to life.
Story Engineering starts with the criteria and the architecture of storytelling, the engineering and design of a story—and uses it as the basis for narrative.
The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises that Transform Your Fiction
The 3 A.M. Epiphany offers more than 200 intriguing writing exercises designed to help you think, write, and revise like never before - without having to wait for creative inspiration.
The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase
From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase—such as “O Captain! My Captain!” or “To be or not to be”—memorable.
How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times
Clark covers how to write effective and powerful titles, headlines, essays, sales pitches, Tweets, letters, and even self-descriptions for online dating services. With examples from the long tradition of short-form writing in Western culture, HOW TO WRITE SHORT guides writers to crafting brilliant prose, even in 140 characters.
The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
This is The Elements of Style, the classic style manual, now in a fourth edition. A new Foreword by Roger Angell reminds readers that the advice of Strunk & White is as valuable today as when it was first offered.
On Inspiration (Memoir, Motivation, and Leading by Example)
These have been called the most famous and beloved letters of the 20th century. Rainer Maria Rilke himself said that much of his creative expression went into his correspondence, and here he touches upon subjects that will interest writers, artists, and thinkers.
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn’t get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way.
This is a book written by artists, for artists -— it’s about what it feels like when artists sit down at their easel or keyboard, in their studio or performance space, trying to do the work they need to do.
The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery
Beginning with the metaphor of the archer’s arrow that cannot travel in a direct line but must rise and fall before it hits its target, Lewis deftly weaves together theories on failure from hundreds of sources. Moving smoothly from Wynton Marsalis’ thoughts on jazz improvisation to Al Gore’s reflection on presidential loss, Lewis’ chapters profile those who have achieved mastery in their field by following the indirect path, often moving backwards, losing out, experimenting, and playing the amateur.
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, 2nd Edition
For more than twenty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice —”it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind.”
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Though aimed at writers, this book is full of sage advice and razor-edged honesty for the average joe. If you’re a writer—and I claim to be one—it’s more than a few anecdotes and good advice; it’s a lifeline in the thrashing seas of rough-draftdom, a foothold on the sands of jealousy and vain ambition. Anne makes it clear that writing must be pursued for something other than mere publication.
Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
At once a memoir, a meditation on the artistic process, and advice on craft, Still Writing is an intimate companion to living a creative life.
In May 2012, bestselling author Neil Gaiman delivered the commencement address at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, in which he shared his thoughts about creativity, bravery, and strength. He encouraged the fledgling painters, musicians, writers, and dreamers to break rules and think outside the box. Most of all, he encouraged them to make good art.
The bookMake Good Art, designed by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd, contains the full text of Gaiman’s inspiring speech.
With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan lead you through a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.
Journaling Your Goals: Prompts, Motivation, and Advice to Help You Achieve Your Dreams
Journaling Your Goals is a self-help book which introduces writing and journaling techniques for dreamers to help set, track, and follow through with personal goals and development.
Week One: Here and Now
-evaluate the current balance of your life
-realize your values
-start implementing small changes to make you more productive
-learn how to track your productivity
Week Two: Reflect:
-look carefully at what you’ve accomplished
-how your current behavior could bring you joy…or regret
-how to overcome paralyzing doubt
-how to combat fear
-how to become a better you
Week Three: Act On It:
-associate hard work with good things
-visualize your goals
-automate your routines
-use various techniques to “hack” your brain to respond positively to your efforts at productivity.
Week Four: Moving Forward:
-create your own manifesto
-start a spiritual routine
-celebrate your achievements
-support yourself with self-care and healing techniques
On Getting Work Done (Discipline, Habit, and Ritual)
Make It Mighty Ugly: Exercises & Advice for Getting Creative Even When It Ain’t Pretty
The number one fear of all creative types—crafters, DIYers, makers, artists—is that failure lurks right around the corner. Crafty blogger and creativity guru Kim Piper Werker urges everyone to pick up their pen or paintbrush or scissors and make something mighty ugly: get that “failure” out of the way. This friendly book offers up a multi-pronged approach to overcoming creative fears through inspiring essays and anecdotes, interviews, exercises and prompts, and sage advice from all over the creative spectrum to help individuals slay their creative demons.
No Plot? No Problem! Revised and Expanded Edition: A Low-stress, High-velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
Chris Baty, founder of the wildly successful literary marathon known as National Novel Writing Month, has completely revised and expanded his definitive handbook for extreme noveling.
Write: 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period.
In this revolutionary book, psychologist and novelist Karen E. Peterson presents an easy, effective way to beat writer’s block in only ten days. Based on new brain research and sound psychological principles, this innovative program shows writers how to conquer writer’s block using a variety of exercises.
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work
Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.”
Kafka is one of 161 inspired—and inspiring—minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do,
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life. It takes work to make a habit, but once that habit is set, we can harness the energy of habits to build happier, stronger, more productive lives.
So if habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits?
Better than Before answers that question.
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love
Have you ever wanted to double your daily word counts? Do you feel like you’re crawling through your story, struggling for each paragraph? Would you like to get more words every day without increasing the time you spend writing or sacrificing quality? It’s not impossible, it’s not even that hard. This is the story of how, with a few simple changes, I boosted my daily writing from 2000 words to over 10k a day, and how you can, too.
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