My Prose Works in Process:

What better transition into a new year than to be reading two excellent books on writing! It is with great expectations I pick up this book. I had focused on Shakespeare for much of my 2020 reading. I have no complaints on that. But now it's time to get back to the craft of writing. I already own many excellent writing books and will begin to reread them as well as hunt out new reads as well. Happy New Year!

I saw this book advertised in Poets & Writers Magazine. I ordered it from Amazon. The book is starting out to be a wonderful pick. I am very happy with the information read so far and how well it aligns to my own personal writing needs. I am just a few chapters into the book but I am excited to read the rest and also begin the associated writing tasks.

Update: I am really pleased with this book. It has broken my writing slump and given me great motivation about the upcoming year!

I saw this book advertised in Poets & Writers Magazine. I ordered it from Amazon. The book is starting out to be a wonderful pick. I am very happy with the information read so far and how well it aligns to my own personal writing needs. I am just a few chapters into the book but I am excited to read the rest and also begin the associated writing tasks.

It's not all about sonnet writing. I have interest in both fiction and nonfiction writing, though I see little chance of ever accomplishing any of it. Maybe a o of my flaws will be addressed in this book. I hope so!

One weekend last year I wrote a kid's book. I believe I laid down 40,000 words. That is the most I have ever written in one short amount of time. I want to repeat that, and repeat it often. This book seems to claim to help you write faster, better and more of what you love. The book does have some good points to ponder. I just need to put it to use!

In any art there are tools and there is imagination. One must learn the tools and be able to utilize them without having to think about them. This frees up the mind to be fully engages in the creative process. There are many books on tools in the poetry writing market. I am happy if I learn one new technique for every book read. Learning is perpetual!

Many times I have purchased a book solely on its cover. At times that is the only information we have on its contents. Such is the case with book. I was truly interested in the 21 traits. Rafa Selase, please, please, please reprint this book! It is printed in such a tiny font size that to say it is difficult to read is a gross understatement. Since I have started with a complaint I will say I was completely disappointed in the book's cover. I learned nothing of any traits of neither the poet nor how to write a poem. Another book that will never be given away to a book sale. It would be wrong to waste the efforts of any other sincere searching poet.

This is an interesting read for those wishing to write ... more of what they write. Packed with a good number of time saving ideas of which most may not actually excite you, but there seems to be a few that bring about some serious consideration. The highlight for me was this very simple act of writing wherever you are by using one's phone. At first glance I thought, no way, it is too cumbersome. But is it really? In those precious spare moments in life when you find yourself sitting around waiting - why not write. and what I am noticing is that these unplanned writing sessions, albeit often brief, seem to allow for easy creative thought. Maybe it is the spontaneity of it all?

If you want to change people’s opinions with your words, and particularly if you want to write an opinion piece that makes an impact, read this new book by the former editor of the New York Times Op-Ed page. Writing to Persuade by Trish Hall interweaves fun, behind-the-scenes stories about the workings of the Times opinions page with solid advice grounded in both research and experience. It’s both informative and entertaining.

Hemingway was a fan of short sentences. It seems logical to me that writing using short sentences may produce very clear prose.

By the writer: Like most received wisdom, what people think they know about writing works in subtle, subterranean ways. For some reason, we seem to believe most strongly in the stuff that gets into our heads without our knowing or remembering how it got there. What we think we know bout writing sounds plausible. It confirms our generally false ideas about creativity and genius. But none of this means it’s true.

I need some occasional magic in my life! I am excited to read this book on my Kindle! This book will be my last read for 2019. I am looking for lots of occasional magic in the years to come!

One does not have to look too hard to find a book touting the technique to write a book in X amount of time, from hours, to days, to weeks, to months. They all read about the same. By following same basic planning you can accomplish just about any task, and writing a book is one of them. Maybe it is the project manager in me that likes these types of books? Maybe every other yet accomplished writer likes them as well? I don't know. But I do believe any of these books can help anyone along their way.

Upon deciding to write some more I felt it best to find some motivating information. This book along with some other helped get me back in the saddle, pen in hand.

Apparently I ordered this book at some point last year. I truly had forgotten about ordering it and as such was a little surprised when it arrived. I had done no writing for over half of this year. Was this book meant to be a sign for me to get back to writing? Probably not, but that is exactly what I did. And from October on I have done my best to reconnect with writing.

The book is a good read. And hopefully good catalyst toward success1

One of two books I just ordered off of Amazon. They were the recommendation of my poetry teacher. Self editing and revising one's own writing is certainly a challenge for me. I'm looking for all the support ideas I can find!

It's a great little book of what to do after you have written down the 1,000s of words. More difficult than the initial draft, is revision. To me, it is the painful part of making it all make sense in an orderly and logical manner all the while having a nice flow to it all. I am stuck in my own writing attempts and looking to this book to help me break free!

I had listened to The Art of Nonfiction a few days back and absolutely loved it. So much that I purchased the paperback edition so that I could highlight the many excellent points. It seemed only sensible to listen to Ayn Rand's book on fiction writing. It shares much in common with its sister book. It is a must read (or listen) for any writer! I also ordered a paperback edition of The Art of Fiction and will mark it up heavily.

Stumbled on this excellent audio book version of Ayn Rand’s The Art of Nonfiction from the library. I admit I am not a reader of Ayn Rand but this book is one of the best on nonfiction writing. It has introduced me to many practices that I need to improve upon or incorporate into my own efforts.

The audio book proved to be so useful I ended up ordering a paperback copy from Amazon.

I am rather immersed in my poetry classes. While I enjoy them immensely I also am adding to them a lot of reading outside of the classroom. I forget what captured my attention about this book but it managed to make it onto my Amazon check out and made its way onto my desk. Here's to hoping it is a great read!

I started reading this book. It is a collection of poetry writing prompts and improvements to apply to one's writing. Each idea is short and you can quickly read through them and gather up a handful of prompts to try. Its going to be a fun book!

Leading the pack of poets I have been recently courting is Mary Oliver. Her poetry is beautiful and inspiring to me as I look forward to extending my poetic topics beyond personal relationship encounters. It seems a natural choice for me to write poetry about the world around me, I photograph that very same world. In photography one pays attention in great detail of one's surroundings. Writing poetry requires much of the same. This book is a small collection of her poems. One can blaze through it in well under an hour, but don't. Stop and think after each poem; breathe.

I am new to the poet Mary Oliver. I just finished her book on writing poetry and consider it one of the best books on any type of writing that I have ever read! With great anticipation I am looking forward to reading Rules for the Dance - A handbook for writing and reading metrical verse. Being about the same size as her Poetry Handbook, I assume I will enjoy his book enough to complete it in one sitting!

As I assumed I read this book in a few hours. It is a great book, but I feel it is a little beyond my abilities at this point in time. I will shelve the book for a few weeks and return to it and reread it when I am ready to better understand it.

Yet another book borrowed for free from my local library. So many books - so little time - yet all available to borrow for free. What a great concept!

Like many of the recent books that I have read on the word craft of writing poetry, this book adds to the voluminous amount of excellent information for the budding poet. I am starting to see a theme develop here. Books on writing about poetry seem to be filled with more emotional content than many of the books I have read about writing prose. Of course there a few of those I have written about below that rock the reader’s world - but overall they don't reach as deep into the emotions as my recent reads on writing poetry.

I have been taking a poetry writing class in the evening. It has introduced me to a number of great poets, many that I had not known. One of which is Mary Oliver. I may have been the last person left in the world that was not familiar with the poetry - I was in the class. She has written the best poetry writing book that I can imagine. I read it twice. It is good and augments my evening classes perfectly! I was not intending to become a poet, I simply wanted to improve my nonfiction writing skills, but I may have been shortsighted in that view. I am really enjoying the practice of writing poetry.

This book hits a home run way out of the park! It is a pure joy when you get a book that accomplishes as much as the book does. I read it once and need to bet back to reading it again. You don't want to miss a thing in this book. I consider it a required tool for the aspiring writer. Sure you can write without this book, but you would not choose to do so once you have read it. Obviously my suggestion is read this book!

To be a good storyteller you need more than one story. This book contains 24 stories, or laws as the book calls them, that are the foundation of quality storytelling. The book did not grab me as I assumed it would. I find this rather disappointing as my though was that a book on storytelling would have it its disposal the benefit of the power of stories. Maybe I read it at the wrong time. I figure I will return to this book in the future and give it another read.

In preparation of an upcoming writing class at the Anne Arundel Community College I dusted off one of my old books and read it gain for the first time. I don't remember reading this book. Quite possibly I purchased and then never got around to actually reading it. That does happen - more times than I should admit.

The book is excellent! It led me through just about everything a budding poet needs to know. I am ready for my poetry writing class!

Amazon delivered a great, little book yesterday. I do not recall where I saw the ad or reference to this book, but I am glad I ordered it!

I am familiar with freewriting, I just never heard it called that before. And while I wish I was on the road traveling I do not see any treks in the traditional sense my near future, the book seems very applicable to writing nonfiction at any point along the road.

This book has reminded me of a few writing techniques I need to employ in my own endeavors.

I have studied words, sentences, and writing techniques, all in the hopes of becoming a better communicator through writing. As the momentum picks up speed I am seeking out any and all words of wisdom that I can obtain to jettison me into year-end success. These two books are proving to be very helpful in my journey. I could not have read them at a more valuable time, other than maybe a few years ago when it is quite possible they would have helped save me some lost time. They are quick and easy reads. And for me, they are extremely aligned to the words I need to hear.

Each of these books truly deserve their own mention in my reading list. I leave them combined if anyone would decide to order one, they will certainly want to consider ordering the other.

An unfortunate theme is revealing itself in the books I pick up on the subject of writing. Holding within them the promise of the world to the want-to-be writer like myself, we enter into reading such books with great enthusiasm. My personal account however is not at all fulfilling. The one thing almost all of the books on writing that I have recently read lack what should be considered essential - is good writing. How can this be? The book taught me nothing that I was not already aware of in the quotes from the great writers.

A huge collection of quotes and thoughts by major writers on work habits, the audience, writer's block, revising, literally every aspect of writing. It is not like reading a good novel with the exception of all the tidbits of information leave you emotionally charged! This book will find itself positioned at the end of my reference books, just in reach for when I need an injection of pure enthusiasm.

It is interesting that when reading about writing about writing I did not see great writing surrounding the contents. Is that asking too much? Is it the reality of nonfiction?

I can't say enough good about this book. It was perfect for me! I enjoyed every page and my only regret in reading the book is that it was not longer. What makes this so surprising to me is that I have only ever read two of Stephen King's books. Sure I have seen many movies, but only read the two books.

For anybody writing or considering writing, this book is a must. I believe I will go and read it again.

Rereading it in early 2021.

A great collection of Hemingway quotes and letters and interviews. I find this book to contain 140 pages of sheer enjoyment. Hemingway has captured my intrigue and I both enjoy and benefit in reading his works and learning more about him as the write and adventurer he was. When I need a quick shot of motivation on writing I know I can find it in this gathering of all things Hemingway on writing.

I followed this reading with an audio book of Hemingway's short stories. When you need to drive - drive well!

I needed help! I was in a lull. I had been failing to write anything at all. It was becoming quite a desperate situation. I turned to the Internet and did some research on books that might be beneficial. What I found was a collection of wonderful books on writing. These two books proved especially relative and useful to me in my writing dilemma.