The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is an odd book which is kind of a stream of consciousness rant about the ways in which an artist struggles with what the author calls “Resistance.” That in itself is…
Happy New Year to all. I don’t usually make New Year resolutions but this year I do have one – a complex one but only one, nevertheless. This year, I resolve to work on not relating to the “Tales of Mere Existence – Project” video, embedded below.
How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One by Stanley Fish My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this book immediately after being disappointed by It was the Best of Sentences, It was the Worst of Sentences, so I may have been primed to have an overly enthusiastic reaction to a book…
It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences by June Casagrande My rating: 2 of 5 stars I was expecting something different from this book. The back of book blurbs used phrases like “wickedly funny” and “you’ll laugh all the way to writing better” (the former is a sentence, I know,)…
For those who are not aware, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, when writers (from all over the globe, despite the name) commit to starting a new novel on November 1st and write 50,000 words of a first draft by November 30. Obviously, the main point is to create a community to encourage and cajole…
This week in #storycraft, I asked the Storycrafters to discuss the reason June Casagrande gives us to learn our fundamentals, in It was the Best of Sentences, it was the Worst of Sentences, : “If you want to master the art of the sentence, you must first accept a somewhat unpleasant truth – one a…
Shaman’s Crossing by Robin Hobb My rating: 1 of 5 stars I’m giving this book 1 star because I simply could not push my way through it. A loved one asked me to read it, so I wanted to give it a decent chance but 33% was all the exposition I could handle. This is…
Today’s #Storycraft chat was an experiment of sorts. For the past six or seven weeks, I have been spruiking that the chat on May 1st (US time) would be a book club type event at which we would be discussing “On Writing” by Stephen King. I chose King’s book because when I asked for books…
Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy KressMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Beginnings, Middles & Ends, by Nancy Kress is one of the best writing how-to’s that I’ve read, yet. The book is targeted at both novelists and short story writers of any experience. Kress assumes little writing theory on the part of the reader…
This week marks 1 year since I hosted the first #Storycraft chat! As I explained in a thank you post I wrote for the #storycraft community, a chat like #storycraft, which has no commercial connections or funding, only works because the people who comprise its community are genuine in their desire to learn and are…
