30 Books Every Writer Should Own: The Other 20

Well, good to see that everyone is looking for fun lists for holiday shopping! The “30 Books Every Writer Should Own” blog entry spiked my average reader count for this blog; it was the highest single-day total yet. I thank you all very much!

I’ve already received some wonderful comments, but this one leads to today’s blog: “What books were hardest for you to keep off the Top 30 list?”

Since I took 50 books that have touched me deeply in my writing career – or life – and pared them down to 30, I thought I’d run out the list of the 20 “Very Honorable Mentions.” Keep in mind: this list is incredibly subjective. All of these books belong on every writer’s short list of titles. They continue the theme of how I believe writers should read – roundly, fully, deeply, and interactively.

The Very Honorable Mentions (again, not in any particular order):

The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art, by Joyce Carol Oates: If you could mate pure, distilled wisdom and vision with the intimacy of a deep romance, this book would be the offspring. What a treasure, by one of the greatest writers on the planet.

The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself, by Susan Bell: For most writers, the hardest part of the process comes after you finish writing the draft – editing your work. In my opinion, this is the best book on editing. It contains tips, strategies, counsel from the greatest book editors of the past century, and interviews with top-selling authors. The author’s personal touch makes self-editing very inviting … and I invite you in, because these days, books need to go to publishers very well edited.

Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury: Zen connotes space, presence, serenity, succinctness. All of which you find in Bradbury’s prolific writing style. I was at a signing when science fiction’s greatest living writer toured this book 20 years ago … I’ll never forget his encouraging comments to me. This book remain a treasure.

On Being a Writer, Bill Strickland, ed: I kept this in the Top 30 list until the last moment. A great collection of conversations with our finest authors, who discuss voice, technique and process openly, in a way that every writer can absorb.

Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice, by Katherine Ransland: One of the most poignant biographies of a living literary figure. Ransland’s book itself is art. It also dives all the way into how tragedy, turmoil, deep suffering and vision created the author who did the impossible – rewrote the legacy of vampires.

The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell: We need to be in contact with the mythologies that formed the archetypes we use in our writing. We also need to know the art of myth-making as storytellers. This book, first published in conjunction with a PBS series in the late 1980s, brings myth into the present. Worthy companion: Mythology, by Edith Hamilton.

Keeping a Journal You Love, by Sheila Bender: A wonderful friend in the writing-teaching community, Sheila has dedicated the last 20 years of her life to helping writers improve their craft. She’s written several books, but this brings home the essence of what it takes to be a compelling writer: Going deep inside, taking your life experiences and world view with you, and percolating wisdom and compassion through journaling. This book erases writer’s block – fast.

The Poet and the Poem, by Judson Jerome: 35 years after its publication, this Writer’s Digest Book remains a landmark on the craft of poetry.

Writing Begins with the Breath, by Laraine Herring: This new release borrows from William Carlos Williams’ philosophy of poetry, which launched the Beat poets movement. Part Buddhism, part instructional … a fine book.

Dare to be a Great Writer: 329 Keys to Powerful Fiction, by Leonard Bishop: Another Writer’s Digest Book, this is one of the most thought-out breakdowns of the fiction writing technique and process.

The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida: A sociological book on how society, culture, education, timing and the ’60s conspired to form perhaps the most diverse and creative group of people in U.S. history – us. Invaluable reading for better understanding of the Boomers and Gen X – the core book-buying public.

The Literary Journalists, Norman O. Sims, ed.: Another book about the New Journalism movement, which launched the personal memoir and narrative non-fiction as we now know it.

The Aquarian Conspiracy, by Marilyn Ferguson: A classic from its publication in 1979, this book breaks out the sociological network of community, technology, spiritual living and environmental consideration that are front-page news items today. I consider it a “must” because it reminds us of our responsibilities to society as creatives.

The Life of Poetry, by Muriel Rukeyser: A beautifully rendered part-memoir, part-instructional discussion of poetry by one of the greatest writers of the mid-20th century.

Journal of a Solitude, by May Sarton: As those who have been in my workshops know, I am BIG on journaling. This wonderful book is best read by a fire, with a cup of coffee or tea, quiet music … and a journal alongside. Because you will be sparked by the writings of the ever-wise May Sarton.

On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: I realize this classic is a very unusual choice, but let’s face it – the vast majority of novels include death, many of us touch the subject in our writing, and we all face it. Why on this list? Because, when I edit books and read end-of-life scenes, it is very easy to see who has experienced them with family or friends, and who has not. This book will bring greater authenticity to your writing. Plus, everyone should read this book.

The Art of the Personal Essay, Philip Lopate, ed.: This should be a staple in every aspiring and practicing essay writer’s home library – from ages 10 to 100. The variety of essays, and informative lead-ins, make this one of the best edited and selected writing anthologies ever.

The Best Writing on Writing, Jack Heffron, ed.: Jack is a former Writer’s Digest Books editor who occasionally teaches writing workshops. He also compiles very good anthologies. This annual release offers plenty of great pieces for writers looking for a tip or some inspiration.

The Alphabetic Labyrinth, by Johanna Drucker: Writing is conveyed by letters. This masterpiece shares the history of alphabets worldwide, how cultures intermingled to create new alphabets, and how the written word spread. The book is beautiful rendered and illustrated, and is one of several wonderful studies of language and the word by this author.

And finally, one of my own:
The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life, by Robert Yehling: It’s very hard for me to include myself in any list, but I’m just sharing the vibe I’ve received from readers and reviewers since its publication in September. The exercises in this book are both stand-alone and mini-series pieces that cover every genre and leave plenty of opportunity for personal interpretation. You won’t find a more diverse writing exercise book.

30 Books (Plus One) Every Writer Should Own

Since the holiday season is upon us, thought I’d create a “gift list” to use when shopping for your writer friends – or yourselves.

This list is very simple: 30 Books (Plus One) Every Writer Should Own. I realize this is subjective, but it encompasses the type of material we need when working on our books, articles, essays or other projects. This list is also designed to spark new ideas, or to further exploration of ideas you already have.

In the list, you will find several self-help writing books, collections of conversations with authors, memoirs, technical books, books addressing other creative genres (music and art, specifically), and works written by some of the greatest authors.

While I would love to include my own writing books in this list – Writes of Life and The Write Time … that’s not for me to judge. One day, someone might create a list that includes them.

In no particular order, here is the list, with personal impressions from my experience as an author, poet, journalist, editor and writing teacher. You can order them through Amazon.com or your local bookstore. Take this list with you during Black Friday or Online Monday (or whatever they call it). Also, let me know what you would add to this list – I’ll run your suggestions and any comments in a future blog.

1 & 2. On Becoming a Novelist and On Writers and Writing, by John Gardner. We start with a bang – a two-for-one. No novelist has ever conveyed the craft and writing life better; then again, he was perhaps the nation’s most refined fiction writer and teacher of fiction at the time of his death in 1982.

3. Writers Dreaming, by Naomi Epel. Conversations with noted authors on their dreams, plots or ideas that came from dreams, and how they work with their dreams. A vital read if you, like me, believe the 6 to 8 non-waking hours of the day contribute mightily to the writing process.

4 & 5. Storycatcher: The Power of Story to Change Our Lives, by Christina Baldwin. Reading and working the prompts in this book is like drinking nectar, further flavored by your own words when they spin together perfectly. In other words, this book does magical things to one’s ability to journal, write an essay or story, and heal. Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest is another Baldwin title worth owning.

6. The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E.B. White. After nearly a century, this book remains a staple of working writers and teachers. Its greatest value might be in emphasizing the need to write tight – crisp, concise, to the point.

7 & 8. Punctuation for Writers, by Harvey Stanbrough. This book deserves a spot on every writer’s desktop alongside The Elements of Style. It presents punctuation as a timely, valuable asset to every written sentence, rather than the necessary evil we first met in grammar school. Whenever I write a book, this gem sits on my desktop. An alternate Stanbrough pick: Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction.

9. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard. In my opinion, one of the best memoirs ever written. I’ve read it 10 times, and counting. This masterpiece brings together nature, voice, observation, listening, creating, inner feelings, outer environment, hubris and hope … and every word sparkles with brilliance. What else is there? If you want more Dillard, go with Three By Annie Dillard – a collection that also includes An American Childhood, and The Writing Life.

10. A Natural History of the Senses, by Diane Ackerman. This is a tremendous book on how the physical senses play out in the natural world, and how we can attune better to our own senses … a critical aspect of deep writing. Some of the stories of how animals use their senses are breathtaking – and reminders of how much more sense-itive we can (and should) become as writers.

11. Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay. This book contains a history of primary colors, how they were mixed for artists since prehistoric times, and the fascinating stories behind the substances and creators of these colors. A great book of observation, journalism and craftsmanship. Good writers always form close alliances with color and tone; here’s a wonderful map into that journey.

12. Library: An Unquiet History, by Matthew Battles. I believe every writer should know basic library science and library history – and this book provides a wonderfully off-beat account of both. From Sumeria to your local library, the adventures of the printed word and its storage – and the wars fought over books – could not be better told.

13. The Browser’s Book of Beginnings, by Charles Panati. As writers, we should know the origins of every subject about which we write – and the etymology of the historical words we use. The incredible material can either be used in your works – or prompt little “archaeological” digs of your own. An alternate selection: The Book of Lists, by David Wallechinsky.

14. Writer’s Market, by Writer’s Digest Books. Between the great articles on marketing, editing and craft, and the thousands of publishing listings, how can any working writer not operate with this book close at hand?

15. 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, by John Kremer. John has been teaching marketing workshops to writers for a long time, and this book has become a staple for working writers nationwide. In this era of online communities and direct author involvement in promotion and marketing, its importance has never been greater. Writing today means doing good business; you will find a number of strong marketing strategies for your book in here.

16 & 17. Dimensions of a Life, ed. Jon Halpern. Written to honor great poet-essayist Gary Snyder on his 60th birthday, this collection of essays, stories and poems by more than 70 contributors focuses on aspects of Snyder’s life, work, personality, cultural influences, and more. It’s like taking 70 gemologists, peeling a diamond open, and seeing how that diamond comes together, one side at a time. Alternate selection for fans of Beat poetry and literature: Lighting the Corners, featuring the works and conversations of Michael McClure.

18. The Language of Life, by Bill Moyers. The subject of a 1995 PBS special, this book features conversations with 25 great current poets. In it, you will see how writers and poets develop voice, and read priceless insights on observation, imagery and craft.

19. Henry Miller on Writing, by Henry Miller. This book changed my writing life; I learned to really finish my book manuscripts after reading it. One of the 20th century’s most prolific writers and artists shares his take on the art and craft of writing – and the insights and tips fall from every page like fruit trees perpetually in season.

20. The Crossing Point, by Mary Caroline Richards. Every writer, teacher, artist, artisan, poet and those concerned with the creative process would do well to own this book of essays, talks, poems and musings by one of the 20th century’s greatest purveyors of personal creativity (and part of the famed Black Mountain literary movement). My copy is hopelessly ripped, underlined and dog-eared from extensive use; I can feel my creative electrons jumping each time I open this book.

21. How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci, by Michael Gelb. Here it is, in a single hardback book: the visual imprint of the creative mind and creative process. Its exploration of the ultimate Renaissance man brings out the creator in all of us. This book is filled with page after page of creative inspiration; I can’t last more than four pages at a time without putting it down and writing to exhaustion.

22. A Writer’s Diary, by Virginia Woolf. The beauty of this diary is that we truly see the inner triumphs and struggles of a great literary figure – but also how every minute of every day was spent writing or gathering the seeds for future works. A great look at the inner world of the perpetually working writer.

23. The Gang That Wouldn’t Write Straight, by Marc Weingarten. The story of the New Journalists – the writers to whom every current journalist, memoirist and narrative non-fiction author owes a debt of gratitude. Beginning with Norman Mailer and Truman Capote, these were the pioneers of incorporating fiction-writing and deep inner personal feelings into non-fiction work.

24. The Language Instinct: How Mind Creates Language, by Stephen Pinker. During our growth as writers, we realize more and more how vital it is to understand the nuances of language, its im-pressions as well as ex-pressions. This book, written by a renowned linguist, shows the way. Read it, and you will find yourself listening to every person’s spoken word more closely – and capturing it more completely in your next piece of writing.

25. Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. A modern classic for writers seeking the deeper, inner places from which to write, and the relationships of their feelings and perceptions to the outside world. The vignettes and essays in this book are tight, concise – and built to prompt you to write.

26. Practicing: A Musician’s Return to Music, by Glenn Kurtz. Music and writing are so closely linked, structurally and creatively, that it behooves every writer listen to music deeply, if not play or study it. But this stellar memoir is about more than music: it is about the art and hard work of practice, and how practice creates ultimate attunement with one’s instrument. In the case of writers, that means written vocabulary and voice.

27. Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. Anne’s deeply felt, highly observant look at the little things in life – a prime topic of both her fiction and non-fiction books – informs this collections of essays/prompts. In it, she shows how she invents verbs to suit the action of the moment – reminding us that we, too, can invent words.

28. Cultural Literacy, by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. While this book is somewhat limited, in that it spells out “only” 5,000 cultural facts or subjects people should know about, I consider it vital reading to every writer who wants to make an imprint on society – and in particular, younger readers. Due to breakdowns in education, funding and the like, writers are in a particularly crucial position of helping to educate and advance our culture. We can develop a strong base with this book.

29. On Writing, by Stephen King. The man who re-invented the horror genre – in both books and films – wrote this heartfelt, deeply informed book to the writer who fights, struggles, bleeds, perseveres and stops at nothing to write … then comes back for more. In other words, a book for all of us.

30. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee. The author put 40 years of screenwriting experience into this book, which rises far beyond the world of the screenplay into something much more universal – the art and craft of writing a compelling story by visualizing a moment and then drawing it out. This book works for all writers. Alternate selection: The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, by John Truby.

The Bonus Book: On Being a Writer, by Theodore Strickland. This Writer’s Digest Book Club selection is now 20 years old, but just as much of a treasure as the day it was published. It features wide-open conversations with a number of best-selling authors; between them, they canvass and discuss every nook and cranny of the writing process.

A Writing Curriculum For Today

To purchase The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

Once in awhile, a writing project comes along that requires us to marshal all of our resources, knowledge, contacts, experience and, it seems, everything good to which we were exposed about the subject. In other words, it requires the skills and tools developed over the course of a career. Such a project has come my way.

The other day, I presented an outline and was green-lighted to produce a K-12 pilot writing curriculum for a school district. There is an alluring proviso: if it makes the impact anticipated by the superintendent, it could be adopted on a more widespread basis.

You can only imagine how I feel about taking on this project. For the past 20 years, I have moved through my careers as a magazine writer and editor, book author and editor, and writing workshop teacher, while concerning myself greatly with literacy in America – in particular, writing literacy. Our students’ ability to communicate through effective literary, transactive and/or expressive writing has plummeted since my school years – when teachers issued writing assignments in conjunction with every subject we took. It is no coincidence that, as writing was de-emphasized or diluted in education, our overall intellectual prowess as a nation started slipping. You can teach facts, figures, concepts and memorization all you want, but nothing creates lasting comprehension better than writing a paper or essay about it – and thinking through what you write.

Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, schools and teachers have been so consumed with “teaching the test,” as it’s known, that such “soft” subjects as writing have been de-emphasized. While curricula are extensive and miss nothing in the grammar and punctuation requirements they spell out, the fact is harsh and clear: Writing has been de-emphasized because of all the testing.

There are many teachers, administrators and individuals working very hard nationwide to reverse that trend. I know teachers that are openly defying the approved curricula to present writing in the way they know best. How would they know best? In all cases, because they are also writers.

I’m a huge supporter of these teachers. They’ve got it right: If we teach writing from the perspective of a writer, then kids are going to ignite with their natural creativity. They’re going to feel the passion that pours through their teachers’ eyes, and they’re going to have fun with it. And “it” includes grammar and punctuation, believe it or not.

The perilous decline in writing proficiency is what prompted me to start teaching summer writing programs for kids, which led to presenting writing workshops to aspiring and professional writers of all ages. My passion for bringing the fun and mind-opening promise of writing back into young peoples’ lives has prompted me to join and participate in several vital organizations: 8-2-6 Valencia, the collaborative author-student writing mission fostered by Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; the George Lucas Educational Foundation (publishers of Edutopia, the most progressive public education magazine in the U.S.); the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement, which produces outstanding web-based exhibits that contain related curricula; and Capitol City Young Writers (I am a board member), founded by my friend and literary agent, Verna Dreisbach.

More recently, I’ve created systems of facilitating writing that have resulted in an award-winning book, Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write (winner of the 2007 Independent Publishers Book Award); an award-winning website presentation with accompanying curricula, Poetry Through The Ages; my latest book, The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life; and a book that Verna and I are getting ready to write (you’ll hear about it soon).

Now, a full-bodied curriculum, complete with explicit marching orders: “Show us how a writer would present and teach writing.”

First off … I hope to convey the spirit and approaches to writing that have been conveyed by the six greatest author/teachers to whom I’ve been exposed in this life to date: T.C. Boyle, Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Smiley, Annie Dillard, the late John Gardner, and American haiku master Don Eulert. Between them, this group has written more than 200 books, including some of the best books on writing available. Gardner’s The Art of Fiction and On Writers and Writing are masterpieces. I’ve been to some of their workshops, I’ve taken private classes with a couple, and I’ve spoken with a few after their readings. These people comprise the Mount Rushmore (plus two) of modern writing instruction. I share their purpose: to create a society of great writers.

One thing this curriculum will feature, above all: the sense of adventure and discovery that I recall my earliest writing teachers instilling in me. Furthermore, those pesky thorns in every student’s side, grammar and punctuation, will become allies in a curriculum that makes them co-participants in a sentence – not the necessary evils. I will weave copious amounts of library science and online resourcing and writing into the mix; after all, if our kids can’t combine these two skills and understand how to write on and through the Internet, what chance do they have in the interconnected 21st century world? Bearing that in mind, the curriculum will focus on the two most important aspects of writing anyone can carry into their adult lives: transactive writing (especially when it concerns business communication), and creative/expressive writing.

I’ll write more about the project as it develops, but my overarching goal is that it triggers the love of writing in one student, then another, then a few more. I fully believe that my generation, the latter-stage Baby Boomer Generation, is the most highly educated in U.S. history for two reasons: 1) Because we were afforded the most opportunities by our parents’ generation in a world that opened up academically and economically for us; and 2) Because we wrote, and wrote, and wrote in class for all 12 years from Kindergarten through High School.

I’d like to see writing become central again. That is why this project takes on the importance of a life mission for me. Because, it is.

This Is It – A Writer’s Perspective

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

One of the most exciting aspects of the writing life is to seek out sources of inspiration. They can come from nature, other people, or other forms of creativity. Sometimes, we not only find something, but are so surprised by the content or message that it spurs us to stretch our boundaries of creative expression.

I experienced such a moment Tuesday night, when I went to see the movie, This Is It, the rehearsal footage from what was to be Michael Jackson’s last major set of performances (or so he said). Even though I am not a Michael Jackson fan, his music has been on the radio since I first heard the Jackson 5, so I decided to see what the final act was going to be. After all, he has broken boundaries for 40+ years; virtually every pop star of the past four decades owes their existence in the public eye to him.

What came across the screen was something wonderfully different: An intimate, behind-the-scenes two-hour presentation of how a great musical performance is assembled, directed, choreographed and scored. And it all revolved around “the man in the mirror,” whose dance moves and voice at 50 were not much slower or lower than the Thriller years. No question about it: This Is It was going to anthologize his four decades of musical greatness, with stage sets for every era and the songs that made MJ second only to The Beatles in creating frenzies of screaming girls.

I watched the movie from a writer’s perspective, and what I saw was just as impressive. No matter what you think of him as a person (and I know from my late friend, the great golfer Payne Stewart, that MJ sought above all to be the best father he could be), Michael Jackson was an auteur. He was an absolute genius at receiving and hearing the music with his inner ear, visioning the physical movement of that music, and bringing it out with a combination of voice and dance moves we may never see it again. He did it as artist, director, choreographer and singer. Furthermore, every minute of This Is It showed the glue, the uniting aspect: everything creative that moved through Jackson was touched by his heart and soul. I felt like I was watching a soul on film that knew, at every moment, that this was truly it – and he was bringing his entire life force into each song, each performance.

A great example (and this is the only piece of the movie I’ll reveal) came during the rehearsal for “Beat It.” Jackson worked out all of his moves, positioned his guitarists on stage, made sure the lighting crew knew how he wanted the lights to fall, then sang. When it came time for the late solo, he stood next to one of his guitarists, Orianthi Panagiris (a 24-year-old Australian; she’ll be a star after this debut). When she stayed with the solo we all remember from Thriller, MJ stopped her and said, “This is your time to shine,” then instructed her to cut loose – to burst with what she felt inside her heart. The result …

… well, see for yourself. If you are a guitar fan, then the next three minutes are worth the ticket price. No wonder country superstar and fellow striking blonde Carrie Underwood dueted with her earlier this year!

Receiving the music. Hearing and feeling it deep within. Visioning the physical movement of the music. Bringing it out with every tool and talent always available, at the ready. Listening to the beat of his heart at every moment. Honoring the vision. Inspiring others with it. Delivering the goods in full force to the audience.

Sounds like a winning recipe for great writing, doesn’t it?

So today, I find myself moving through my book ideas, and the books with which I am helping my clients, with a slightly different emphasis – a more holistic emphasis. I never expected This Is It to dance a path through my own creative process, but it reminded me of just how genius and greatness are attained: through vision, courage, plenty of skills and tools, but most of all, hard work that results in an expression of near-perfection.

That is our constant goal as writers: to imagine, envision, observe, write, then polish until every word resonates with the precise reflection of what moves through us, what scene or dialogue we first pictured. Then we put together the whole story, the whole performance, and our subject matter or characters carry out the telling.

On his final day of life, eight days before he was to open the show in London, Michael Jackson gathered the entire This Is It ensemble into a circle. They held hands. He said to them, “Show the audiences talent they’ve never seen before. Show them your greatness.”

You have your opinions of MJ’s choices in life, and I have mine. But there is no disputing the wisdom of this advice when it comes to our writing.

20 Tips for Successful Writing

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

During the past 30-plus years of professional writing, I have tried many approaches to writing – just like every other writer. Some have worked for periods of time; others lay discarded on a back trail of earlier development, or sitting inside my trunk full of journals.

Through the years, I have found 20 approaches to writing to be particularly successful. These get the job done for me, expand creativity, and keep writers excited and eager to write something new every day (see Tip #19). I originally presented 12 of these in September during my keynote speech at the Write Time Teens ‘n Twenties Conference.

I’d like to share my list of 20 tips for successful writing, and invite your comments and tips, which I will guest publish in a future blog – with a credit to you and link to your email address or website.

1) Make Every Sentence Your Best Sentence.

2) Write What You Know.

3) Write What You Feel

4) Write What You Think

5) Write What You Love. Deeply.

6) Expand Your Writing Muscles – Daily. New observations. New experiments. New dialogue. Experiment with what you don’t know, or are learning, until you know it. Then master it and write it.

7) Be a Voyeur. Hang Out At Parks, Gatherings, Clubs and Coffee Shops. Listen.

Cross-Read. Read three to five books simultaneously – preferably in different genres, with both male and female authors. Develop the cross-connections that create magical metaphors and similes.

9) Be Comfortably Uncomfortable. Read out of your genre. Write out of your genre. To paraphrase former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, give yourself permission to write the things you would never say out loud.

10) Let No One Define You

11) Silence Your Inner Censor – Forever!

12) Explore. Experience. Emote.

13) Drive into Your Heart & Soul – Then Up to the Heights of Ecstasy. Live in the middle, but be willing to venture to your emotional and intellectual extremes to write the sentence that changes your reader’s world – and yours.

14) Center Everywhere, Circumference Nowhere. Write with you, the narrator, subject or character in the middle of every observation, movement and feeling. Take this statement from wise Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore into your work.

15) Write Sense-ually. Employ the five senses – and a few others, such as the senses of movement, balance, temperature, thought, ego/other, life/well-being, and speech/language.

16) Enliven Places. Make your settings and locations living, breathing participants of your stories, essays and poems,

17) Hide Nothing. As poet/warrior Robert Bly said, “stand before your audience naked.”

18) Read Your Writing Out Loud. Always.

19) Finish HOT. Leave a juicy paragraph open and exposed until the next day – then run with it.

20) Finish What You Start (whenever possible). It is very easy to start a work, but if you do not get to “The End,” the finish line will appear further away with your next writing project.

See how these tips work for you. For me, they condense more than 30 years of trying to find the right approach. I swear by them.

Writing Sense of Place

To order The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life

I’m trying something new with today’s blog – posting the agenda for a workshop I’m teaching tonight on Sense of Place: Bring Your Settings to Life.

Think of place as nothing less than the stage on which your subjects or characters enter, take the spotlight, enact their part in the plot or story, and exit. Place and setting are the most important background components of any narrative, poem or essay – fiction or non-fiction. Sometimes, place becomes the foreground through its relationship to a character or subject. Countless great books have centered on specific places or groups of places; many others have created descriptions of location that are unforgettable. If reading is partially a matter of disconnecting from the world around us and entering another world (real or imagined), then place/setting in a book is nothing less than that other world into which were entering. How we perceive that other world is up to the author’s descriptions and characterizations.

How important is place and setting to a writer’s overall approach? In my book The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life, I devote more than 75 exercises to different approaches to writing place and setting, in part or whole.

All of which makes writing good settings, landscapes and locations – with a mixture of character, color and precise detail – extremely important.

I’m going to write more extensively about each of the sections below in the next few blog posts, so wanted to show the overall workshop presentation as it will be delivered to attendees this evening:

IMPORTANCE OF PLACE AND SETTING: Establishes location/stage of story; creates color and texture for your narrative background; reflects pace of narrative; reflects traits and preferences of characters

HOW PLACE WORKS INTO WRITING: Often becomes a character or central figure in itself; gauges or dictates mood or tone; interrelates with characters; works hand-in-hand with plot; becomes the center of the universe into which you’re taking readers

EXERCISE: Think of a favorite location or place that you frequent regularly. Could be home property. Identify two or three characteristics that make the place so special. Write about those characteristics and how you interact with them. Write essay or narrative.

ATMOSPHERICS: Writing the outer limits and inner breath of your story’s world. Discovering and integrating specific elements of a place or setting that connect to your characters’ senses and sensibilities. In non-fiction, the aspects of place or setting that feed into the event or person on which you’re focusing.

ATMOSPHERIC EXERCISE:
1) Identify your geographic feature (river, lake, ocean, etc.)
2) Write as many synonyms for feature as you can
3) Why do you connect so completely with this feature? How does it make you feel? How does your mood, perception, vision change?
4) Write about a direct interaction between you (or character) and this feature

THE BREATH OF LANDSCAPE: Understanding the sensual relationship between yourself, subject or character, and place – and converting it to living, breathing narrative
1) Personifying the landscape – imagery, simile, metaphor, alliteration
2) Use of extended metaphors to blend character and landscape/setting
3) Use of very specific nouns and verbs to drive specific images
4) Merging movements of a place with the character’s movements

WRITING PLACE INTO INNER WORLD OF CHARACTER OR SUBJECT
1) The anchor of fiction and narrative non-fiction
2) Understanding of subject’s relationship to place – and how place defines the subject
3) Working with senses
4) Connecting outer observations to inner perceptions

EXERCISE:
Write an essay, poem or vignette in which a subject/character has a direct experience with a place or setting. Describe how the place/setting affects the character, both internally and externally. Note colors, moods, contours, time of day, landmarks, that relate to the character’s relationship with both the experience and the place.

WRITING PLACE EVERY DAY: Putting yourself in the center and writing outward.

Signing at the Book Fair

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As an author, one of my favorite activities is to present my works at book fairs, writer’s conferences and book expos. We’ve got a good one coming up Saturday in Evansville, IN, sponsored by the Midwest Writers Guild and hosted by Barnes & Noble.

I’ll be there to sign and promote The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life. I’ll also bring along my other six books and some promotional literature about the many services Word Journeys provides new and established authors.

Book fairs are wonderful. Authors from many states gather to talk about and sell their works, and to commiserate with each other. I thoroughly enjoy these conversations, because we can compare stories about getting published, promoting our works, researching our subjects, the creative process and so much more. While best-selling authors are always present at book fairs, I always seek out the regional authors, because their works keep the spirits, histories and personalities of their areas alive, and commit them to the printed word. Plus, they are very, very dedicated writers, artisans hard at work with their craft.

As a book fair attendee, I would suggest making it a point to seek out and talk with as many authors as you can. This is a rare opportunity to see the faces behind the voices and words, to pick their brains for their sources of motivation and inspiration – and, likely, to pick up a side story or two about how a certain character or plot line came into being.

For those who live in the Midwest and Upper South, the Evansville Book Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. The Barnes & Noble store is located on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Green River Road.

We’ll certainly have plenty of stories from the book fair next week on this blog … and an interview with an author or two. Stay tuned.

The Big Read: Visiting Places Where Great Works Were Written

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While scanning through Facebook this morning, I noticed an interesting post on the wall of one of my old elementary and high school classmates:

The Big Read: Robinson Jeffers and the Ecologies of Poetry.

The description: “The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Charles Harper Webb, Cecilia Woloch, actress Dale Raoul (True Blood) read the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, and special guest poet Jamie Asae FitzGerald. Presented by the Historical Society of Southern California.

While the Big (Group) Read happened last week (more on the installation at the end of this blog), it brought back wonderful memories of reading authors’ works in their exact settings. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I used to assist Central California poet-professor Ingrid Reti in leading literary excursions to Big Sur – where Robinson Jeffers wrote his most commanding nature and ecology poems. We would stop along the wild, majestic coastline in a tour bus, and take turns reading from the works of Big Sur pioneer-authors while also discussing their relationship to the rugged land. We would stop at locations that either inspired or served as the settings for pieces of writing. We’d also make the obligatory stops to the Henry Miller Library and Nepenthe.

The eclectic cast of Big Sur authors included the literary and artistic powerhouse Henry Miller, Lillian Bos Ross, Jaime de Angulo, Jeffers, and John Steinbeck, who wrote several of his books while lodged in a clifftop cabin that still exists in Lucia. One of our staples was Miller’s great book Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch, which contains priceless descriptions of walking down from Partington Ridge to the pools at Slate Hot Springs – now the mineral baths of the Esalen Institute. A few years later, I wrote a magazine cover story that interwove these Big Sur literary adventures with the experiences of a heart alive with new love. One day, I’ll retype it and lodge it on my website.

This experience began a new passion for me: Reading works in the locations where they were written. When I read a Robert Frost poem while sitting in the snow in Franconia Notch, NH, every word and image springs to (frosty) life. When I sit on the point at Sirmione, Italy, and read the open-hearted works of Roman poet Catullus while perched in the ruins of his football field-sized villa atop Lake Garda, I can feel how the lake gave his tortured soul solace. While standing in my garden, or writing in the woods behind my house, I am immediately called to any combination of essays, poems and phrases by Kentucky’s great literary treasure, Wendell Berry. I can’t even count how many times I’ve gone up the San Juan Ridge in the Sierra foothills to seclude and meditate at the Ananda Meditation Retreat, then walked across the manzanita-lined road to read the poems of Gary Snyder while sitting next to Kitkitdizze – the great poet/essayist’s home for the past 40 years. Travel down the Grand Canal in Venice, and a potpourri of authors and their works spring to mind – and give further depth and insight into the experience. Hit the beaches of Venice, CA, and it’s easy for me to fall into the lyrical rhythms of two of my favorite musician-poets, Jim Morrison of the Doors and Exene Cervenka of the great L.A. punk/rockabilly band X.

While so much of writing is what we create and shape in our minds, place and setting are an equally large part of the picture. As both working writers and readers, we can draw great wisdom and technique as writers by reading works in their root locations. First, it gives us direct insight into what the author observed in that moment. We can only speculate as to why he or she chose certain words or phrases, but that speculation is certainly enhanced by training our eyes and senses on the same or similar subjects. Furthermore, we can grasp a sense of what created meaning in the author’s life. If Robinson Jeffers wrote countless great poems of nature and ecology while sitting amongst the redwoods, cliffs and raw beaches of Big Sur, then clearly, Big Sur fed his heart, soul and mind. Any time an author spends any length of time in one place, a relationship with that place is formed. Their writing will reflect the relationship with the landscape, ecology, history and people of that locale.

As writers, we can learn how to weave ourselves into our essays, or our characters into their settings, by simply taking literary excursions – and writing about our perceptions, observations and feelings, then creating a new work that integrates place. Visit the home of a noted local author. Go to a place where a favorite author or poet composed a work. Walk the same steps your favorite travel writer took. Sit down, become very quiet, and soak in the energy the author felt and conveyed.

By the way … The Big Read: Robinson Jeffers and the Ecologies of Poetry will remain installed at the Occidental College Library in Southern California through November 7. Hope to see you there!

Notes from a Writing Conversation: Cross-Genre Writing

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During the live conversation on Abstract lllusions Radio with host Jennifer Hillman last week, we discussed writing in different genres – a favorite subject of mine.

Genres mix all the time in the creative arts – and often, into everyday expressions. For instance, the presence of lyrically strong music in TV advertisements networks three different genres: music, poetry and advertising. Ditto for a good memoir, which brings together elements of fiction, travelogue and non-fiction in a confessional setting. In L.A., performance artist Norton Wisdom will paint to either the music or poetry, with musicians and readers accompanying him in a very raw, live interpretation of how the genres blend in the mind of the creative.

I find it incredibly strengthening and liberating to write in multiple genres. If we specialize too much, we tend to become boxed into our ideas and limitations of a particular form or genre. The more we can open up to new forms of writing, first as readers and then as writers, the more tools we have at our disposal to express the stories, vignettes, poems or melodies that roll through us.

As I mentioned on the radio show, we’re living in an era now where hybridization is actually part of our evolution as writers and artists. It seems all of the genres have been discovered, explored and expressed (as I say this, someone will come up with a new one!). However, any good alchemist or Ayurvedic doctor will tell you what can happen when you blend the right elements – something very new, enthralling and potentially transforming can emerge.

We’ve seen music lyrics in novels for years; two great examples are Tolkien’s Hobbit songs in Lord of the Rings, and the nonsensical wizardry of Lewis Carroll in the Alice in Wonderland series. The New Journalists (Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson, primarily) integrated fiction and characterization into non-fiction pieces in a way that changed journalism forever. Essayist/novelists like Joan Didion routinely blurred the line between genres; great musicians like Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin always mixed poetry, lyric, journaling or essay, and visual art in their work. Now, close-to-the-heart authors like Sarahbeth Purcell bring poetry, vignette, essay and fiction together to convey the most subtle and intense emotions.

Here are a few quick exercises for you to start playing with genres other than one in which you’re accustomed to writing:

1) Try writing your next poem as a vignette, a story in paragraph form.

2) In your next piece of fiction, import some factual details. Describe them from the eyes of your character – but keep the material factual.

3) When describing someone real, imagine what goes on inside their mind, gauging from their facial expressions, eyes and body language. This is a cross-genre technique used in narrative non-fiction.

4) Next time a song plays through your mind, write down the words that come to you with the melody – then write a story about it.

5) If you’re writing memoir, try to describe every setting as though you were painting a landscape or panning the camera to capture every nuance for a film audience.

6) Next time you write about somewhere you traveled, set the scene and take us inside what you felt and sensed … pull us into that world, just as you would if writing a fictional character.

7) Open your journal and start writing, today, in a genre outside your comfort zone.

We’ll have much more on the subject of cross-genre writing on this blog. Until then, let us know how these exercises work for you!

Notes from a Writing Conversation: Part One

Blog Note: Beginning Monday, October 19, we will begin posting select writing exercises from The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life on our sister blog, 366writing.wordpress.com.

Enjoyed an hour live on Abstract Illusions Radio last night with host Jennifer Hillman, conversing about the wonderful world of writing and some of its most beneficial applications. Jen and I discussed a number of topics that touched upon the many different professional and personal uses of writing and story:

Journaling: A caller discussed her desire to re-start a journal. I carried it from there to note the three biggest reasons why all writers (and everyone, for that matter) should journal daily, if possible:

1) To get thoughts, feelings, observations, perceptions and experiences on paper. You never know what seeds of future stories, poems, essays, books or lessons lie within everyday words.

2) To plumb our life circumstances or situations, for both reflection and inner healing. Journals are safe havens; by writing deeply about what concerns us, we can uncover solutions, release sources of suffering and reclaim pieces of ourselves.

3) To experiment with new forms and types of writing, or to make test-runs of poems, essays and stories.

Writing the Iceberg: I pointed out one of the core challenges of all writers – to not become too cerebral or intellectual in their work, unless they are academic or topical non-fiction authors. Good writing should reflect life – a combination of emotions, deeper feelings, thoughts, sensory perceptions, actions and responses. Remember that the mind encompasses the entire body and all of your cells – and that, by opening to heart and body rhythms, you actually open huge vaults of memories, experiences and feelings that deepen and enrich stories. Think of your mind as an iceberg: The brain is the tip, while the entire body is the 90% that is often “submerged.” Which would you rather have available when you write? As poet Li-Young Lee said, “We have six trillion potential stories inside us – one for each cell.”

Writing Universal Truths: The goal of personal, introspective writing such as memoirs, poetry and personal essays is to utilize our experiences to arrive at deeper truths, common to all. By doing so, we experience personal discovery and, perhaps, transformative moments, while also creating “familiar” moments for the readers. These are the “A-ha!” moments we experience when reading well-crafted novels, memoirs and other works. Always seek to write so deeply that you shed the veneer of your own personality and tap something much more universal, sacred, primal.

With the Heart Comes Voice: What happens when we try to sing if our heart’s not into the song or the performance? Our voices tend to sound jerky, constricted. The same with good writing. Try to write not so much from the mind, but from the heart. By writing with depth and feeling, we can sharpen our authentic voice, that mixture of style, rhythm, resonance and presence that is our unquestionable imprint on the printed page. Drive voice with your heart. Turn your mind into a willing servant, pulling the words and structure you need to craft the piece, but not directing it.

There’s more to come from our conversation…

Final note: My friend, author/editor/photographer and Cherokee language teacher Brian Wilkes, reminded me on Facebook that, in the Cherokee calendar, we are entering a most auspicious year: Noquis’equa, the Year of the Big Star. The Year of Venus. This is a year of rapid reversals and big change. Here’s to creating some big change in all our lives with a year of great writing!