Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

How Do You Perfect Your Craft?

I write.

I write, write, write. Then I edit, delete, and write some more*.

American author Henry Miller once said that you have to write a million words before you produce anything good. That’s probably true. (This gave me a laugh, by the way: how to get a leg up on writing a million words of crap, the Million Words of Crap Generator v1.0.)

I also attend conferences and workshops for writers. (More on this in a later post…)

The other thing I do is read books on writing. I go through phases: I’ll read several in a row and then ignore them for quite a while. Many I borrow. But it struck me recently that I’ve enjoyed a few so much I’ve kept them and occasionally refer to them.

With that in mind, I thought I’d begin reviewing them here on the blog. Are you interested? What books would you like to see me review? (And if you’ve written a book on writing, drop me a line. I might be interested in taking a peek and reviewing it here.)

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*Actually, it’s more like: write, write, edit, delete, edit, write, delete, write, write, edit, write, delete, edit, edit, write, write, write.

2 comments to How Do You Perfect Your Craft?

  • What do you think of Debra Doyle’s book, Goal Motivation Conflict (GMC)?

    BTW – hi! finally commenting for you. Need a *kickinthepants on blogs…

    • Hi Trish! I haven’t read Debra Doyle’s book. I’ll add that to my list. I’m currently reading “Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go” by Les Edgerton (One of my writing group partners said it’s the best book on writing he’s ever read…)

      I’m also reading “The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel” by Diana Wynne Jones. It’s not marketed strictly  as a writing guide…although that’s one of its suggested uses.

      I’ll review both on the blog when I’m done.

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