On Writing Books
In the Chronicle Review of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Gina Barreca claims that Betsy Lerner's THE FOREST FOR THE TREES: AN EDITOR'S ADVICE TO WRITERS to be the best book on writing. Many people chose Stephen King's ON WRITING or Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD as most inspiration. Even the irrepressible scalawag Austin Carr claims that Carolyn Wheat's HOW TO WRITE KILLER FICTION is the "must have" book for writer wannabes.
Me. I have a host of books under Writing Resources: some inspire; some instruct; some provide the secrets to the universe of writing if you can apply those secrets.
So what's on your shelf that you grab when someone asks you to name your most valuable writing resource book?
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I've got tons of writing how-to books that I rarely consult. (I adopted Natalie Goldberg's advice to "just write" instead.) But I do grab one book when I get stuck for description: The Romance Writers Phrase Book (by Jean Kent and Candace Shelton). It's got lots of cornball phrases for facial expressions, etc., but it often points me in the right direction.
I never remember titles, and my good book was borrowed from the library, so I can't check. None of the many I own are worth mentioning, but I will check the ones you mention, for sure.
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