Book picks similar to
Blogging for Authors by Barb Drozdowich


writing
non-fiction
on-writing
productivity

A Writer's Time: Making the Time to Write


Kenneth Atchity - 1986
    He shows you how to transform anxiety into "productive elation," how to separate vision from revision, and how to develop your own writing agenda.This book, based on his writing seminars, research into dreams and creativity, and film development, is, as the New York Times states, "crammed with the sort of useful advice that it seems to take some people years to learn."

Build Your Best Writing Life: Essential Strategies for Personal Writing Success


Kristen Kieffer - 2019
    Maybe you’re frustrated with your writing progress or overwhelmed by creative doubt, burnout, or writer’s block. Maybe you just can’t seem to sit down and write.No matter the roadblock standing between you and writing success, here’s the good news: You’re capable of becoming the writer you want to be—and that work can begin today. In this actionable and empowering guide to personal writing success, Kristen Kieffer shares 25 insightful chapters designed to help you:• Cultivate confidence in your skills and stories• Develop a personal writing habit you can actually sustain• Improve your writing ability with tools for intentional growth• Discover what you (really) want from your writing life—and how to get it! By the end of Build Your Best Writing Life, you’ll know how to harness the simple techniques that can help you win your inner creative battles, finish projects you can be proud to share with the world, and work with focus to turn your writing dreams into reality.

The Book You Were Born to Write: Everything You Need to (Finally) Get Your Wisdom onto the Page and into the World


Kelly Notaras - 2018
    Life coaches with new methodologies for living on purpose . . . energy workers who've discovered new ways to prevent disease and teach self-healing . . . everyday heroes and heroines who have made it through difficult circumstances and want to inspire others to do the same. In today's tumultuous world, we need these voices in the marketplace. Moreover, publishing a book has never been so simple, accessible, or affordable as it is today. So why are so many thought leaders, healers, and change-agents stuck at the starting line?This book will light the way--offering a simple, step-by-step path that takes authors from concept to finished book. In it, publishing veteran Kelly Notaras demystifies the publishing process and gives writers the tools, insider information, and inspiration to start strong, keep going, and get across the finish line as quickly as possible.

Write Good or Die


Scott NicholsonHarley Jane Kozak - 2010
    Anderson, M.J. Rose, Heather Graham, J.A. Konrath, Gayle Lynds, Alexandra Sokoloff, Jonathan Maberry, and more. How to develop your craft, improve your writing, get an agent, promote your work, embrace the digital age, and prepare yourself for the coming changes in the publishing industry. Edited by Scott Nicholson.

How To Not SUCK At Writing Your First Book: A Book On Writing For People Who Hate Writing


Chandler Bolt - 2015
    The whole process seems overwhelming. This conversational and action oriented book is for people who want to write a book (or are thinking about it), but for their whole life, have never been good at writing. Writing has always been difficult for you, and you think you could never enjoy it, much less write an entire book. Every time you start to write anything it’s like all of your ideas disappear. You know the drill. You get ready to do some writing. You’re pumped and think this will be the day all of your great ideas flood the page. Then ... You find yourself staring at a blank screen. You have no idea what you want to write about. After some time, you want to bang your head against the keyboard. You want to write a book. In fact, you know you have a book inside you but, you keep telling yourself: “I’m not a writer. I can’t write a book. I don’t have enough time anyway.” There are TONS of myths, misconceptions, and flat-out lies out there about how difficult it is to write your first book. How to Not SUCK at Writing Your First Book busts those myths and challenges everything you’ve been told about writing. This book is filled with proven solutions, options, and problem-solving methods that every first-time author needs to know—no matter what writing challenges you face. How to Not SUCK at Writing Your First Bookgives you the foundation for your first book through: 4 tried and true writing methods that make the writing process simple, easy & fast A writing method that involves 0 actual writing (your book can be done in as little as 7 hours) Simple strategies for preventing & defeating writer’s block Uncovering the #1 way to actually finish and publish your book (hint: is has nothing to do with writing) Shows you how simple and fast writing a book can actually be (by holding your hand every step of the way). Follow the advice given in this book and by the end, after putting what I have to say into action, you will have easily written a high-quality book. Best of all, the rest of your life doesn’t have to be put on hold to do it either! This book shows you how you can continue to spend most of your time doing what you love instead of struggling through something you hate. Before your buy the book, I have one question for you: What’s stopping you from turning your daily conversations and knowledge into a high-quality book faster than you ever thought possible? Scroll to the top and click the “buy now” button and you will write your first book-- and not suck at it.

The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention


Nicolas Cole - 2020
    

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer


Roy Peter Clark - 2006
    "You need tools, not rules." His book distills decades of experience into 50 tools that will help any writer become more fluent and effective. WRITING TOOLS covers everything from the most basic ("Tool 5: Watch those adverbs") to the more complex ("Tool 34: Turn your notebook into a camera") and provides more than 200 examples from literature and journalism to illustrate the concepts. For students, aspiring novelists, and writers of memos, e-mails, PowerPoint presentations, and love letters, here are 50 indispensable, memorable, and usable tools. "Pull out a favorite novel or short story, and read it with the guidance of Clark's ideas. . . . Readers will find new worlds in familiar places. And writers will be inspired to pick up their pens." -Boston Globe"For all the aspiring writers out there-whether you're writing a novel or a technical report-a respected scholar pulls back the curtain on the art." -Atlanta Journal-Constitution"This is a useful tool for writers at all levels of experience, and it's entertainingly written, with plenty of helpful examples." -Booklist

Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors


Kathy Ide - 2007
    Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, by professional freelance author, editor, and proofreader Kathy Ide, is the essential go-to tool for aspiring and experienced writers and editors. This book includes all of the material from Ide's popular Polishing the PUGS book (now out of print), with added PUGS guidelines and helpful tips from multi-published authors on how to catch typos and other common mistakes. In Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors, Kathy Ide identifies the industry-standard references for books, magazines, and newspapers (which are different from the guidelines for other types of writing, such as college term papers). Using these official references, she highlights the most common mistakes writers make in the areas of punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling (for which she uses the acronym PUGS). She also includes guidelines from The Christian Writer's Manual of Style for authors and editors who work in the inspirational market.

I Should Be Writing: A Writer's Workshop


Mur Lafferty - 2017
    It’s time to stop dreaming about what you want to write and finally do it! Let award-winning podcaster Mur Lafferty, who in the past has interviewed authors including John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman, Gail Carriger, Adam Christopher, and Kameron Hurley, guide you through the nuts-and-bolts process of honing your craft, including which writing myths to ignore, how to refine your creative process, listening to your inner muse while ignoring your inner bully, and more.  This book also contains writing exercises that will help the blossoming writer strengthen the writer’s muscle of writing every day. These include everything from situational writer's prompts to lists of ideas writers should try to jot down between writing sessions.With this helpful guide, you can make the phrase, "I've always wanted to write a story..." a thing of the past. Because you should be writing!

The Erotica Handbook: (How to Write Erotica) A guide to making $100 an hour writing erotica short stories and selling them online (Emily Baker Writing Skills and Reference Guides)


Emily Baker - 2016
     You will learn how to generate hundreds of story ideas, cover designs, and characters. How to get past writer’s block. How to use the monster mirroring technique. The most profitable keywords, word counts, kinks. THE EROTICA HANDBOOK also includes a thesaurus with a mountain of sexy synonyms to help speed up your writing. Working from home has never been easier, and erotica is the only genre where new authors can price a short story at $2.99 and sell 100 copies in three weeks. THE EROTICA HANDBOOK is the cutting-edge blueprint to obtaining pleasure and money. Don’t deny yourself the joy of making $200 while you sleep.

Mugging the Muse


Holly Lisle - 2000
    It contains many of the articles and workshops from this site, plus three articles written especially for the book: My Five Worst Career Mistakes and How You Can Avoid Them, Ten Keys to Designing a Series Character You Can Live With (Forever), and How to Make Every Story Better Than the Last." (from HollyLisle.com)

Jumpstart Your Creativity: 10 Jolts to Get Creative and Stay Creative (Jumpstart Series)


Steven Rowell - 2013
     This fun lighthearted and easy to read book will give you 10 Jolts to reawaken and tap into your innate creativity in order to be more successful at work and in your personal life. In this book, you will learn the tools techniques and methods for getting and staying creative in a competitive world. "Jumpstart Your Creativity gives you proven specific effective tools and great tips to use, to both generate ideas and evaluate them effectively. Are you ready to tap into your creativity?  This book will show you how, and you will be amazed at the results!  "Are you creative? Do you want to be more creative in your business and personal life?  Everyone has the ability to be creative. This fun lighthearted and easy to read book will give you 10 Jolts to reawaken and tap into your innate creativity in order to be more successful at work and in your personal life.

The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself


Susan Bell - 2007
    Brimming with examples, quotes, and case studies that include an illuminating discussion of Max Perkins's editorial collaboration with F. Scott Fitzgerald on The Great Gatsby, this book proves how fundamental editing is to great writing. Bell also offers strategic tips and exercises for self-editing, and a series of remarkable interviews, that take us into the studios of established authors such as Michael Ondaatje, Tracy Kidder, and Ann Patchett to learn from their various approaches to shaping their work after its initial creation. Much more than a manual, The Artful Edit inspires readers to think about both the discipline and the creativity of editing and how editing can enhance their work. A vigorous investigation into the history and meaning of the edit, this book, like The Triggering Town and The Elements of Style, is a must-have companion for every writer.

The Craft of Research


Wayne C. Booth - 1995
    Seasoned researchers and educators Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams present an updated third edition of their classic handbook, whose first and second editions were written in collaboration with the late Wayne C. Booth. The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, “So what?” The third edition includes an expanded discussion of the essential early stages of a research task: planning and drafting a paper. The authors have revised and fully updated their section on electronic research, emphasizing the need to distinguish between trustworthy sources (such as those found in libraries) and less reliable sources found with a quick Web search. A chapter on warrants has also been thoroughly reviewed to make this difficult subject easier for researchers Throughout, the authors have preserved the amiable tone, the reliable voice, and the sense of directness that have made this book indispensable for anyone undertaking a research project.

Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids


Christina Katz - 2007
    It covers everything from getting started and finding ideas to actually finding time to do the work.