holiday

Reading Material for Writers

Nephele Tempest

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As promised, I’m back with further gift ideas for the writers in your life, with a focus on buying them things to read. You may, of course, choose to simply provide your special writer with an enormous gift card to the book retailer of your choice, and no doubt that will make them very happy. However, if you want to be a bit more specific and personal, here are a few recommendations to check out.

Certain writing-related books get named quite frequently. They are wonderful classics, and deserve to be mentioned, but you should also keep in mind that many writers already have dogeared copies of these babies. But for the sake of thoroughness, I’ll run through them:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott — General writing advice mixed with personal history/anecdotes.

On Writing by Stephen King — Part memoir, part excellent writing advice.

Story by Robert McKee — On story structure, focusing primarily on screenwriting, but applicable to all fiction.

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass — Advice on taking your writing to the next level.

These barely scrape the surface, of course, as books about writing seem almost as abundant as books in general some days. However, they are some of the most popular, and for good reason.

I also like to recommend the following writing-related books. Some are also well known, others less so, but I find they each offer good tips and inspiration.

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose — Thoughtful analysis on the reading process and how writers can learn from the works they read.

The Making of a Story by Alice LaPlante — A step-by-step guide focusing on short fiction, but applicable to all storytelling craft.

Story Engineering by Larry Brooks — Another way of looking at story structure.

The Write-Brain Workbook by Bonnie Neubauer — A huge collection of writing exercises to help get the words flowing.

The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White — The classic style guide, updated with fun illustrations.

Beyond books, subscriptions make great gifts for writers. They’re the gift that keeps giving all year long, plus in some cases they help the writer get a fix on what a certain publication is looking for so that they can in turn submit their own efforts. Here’s an assortment of both informational and entertaining periodicals for the various writers on your shopping list.

The Writer — A magazine filled with advice, interviews, and other information pertaining to the writing life.

Poets & Writers — A bi-monthly magazine focused on more literary writing, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with an excellent list of upcoming contest deadlines, grants, etc., and annual issues dealing with MFA programs, writers’ retreats, and so on.

Publishers Weekly — The industry magazine for publishing. Much more business oriented than writing oriented.

Top 50 Literary Magazines – One site’s list of top literary magazines with links to each one. An easy reference to some of the most popular magazines currently published.

Asimov’s Science Fiction — Magazine for short science fiction, reviews, etc.

Apex – A magazine for science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine — Publishes short crime and mystery fiction.

There are many, many additional publications available, especially if you are shopping for a reader open to digital subscriptions, as some online publications do not issue print copies. For writers who love their e-readers, another option is a subscription reading service such as Oyster or Scribd, which allows unlimited access to their library of books for a monthly charge. Be sure you know what type of e-reader the person has before making digital purchases, as some services are not compatible with older models.

Wishing you all happy shopping, and some great reading of your own!

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

TGIF! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week, and that at least some of you have embraced my December Writing Challenge and are getting words down every day, even if things are busy. Now’s a great time to look ahead to your weekend and determine when you’ll be able to fit in your writing time. Will you carve out an extra half hour before breakfast? Sneak in a mid-afternoon coffee/writing break? Be sure to allocate time ahead. Make it a priority. Your goals are just as important as everyone else’s holiday events.

Of course, today being Friday, I come bearing links. It’s a very bookish assortment this week, likely prompted by the start of the end-of-year best-book list season. These frustrate me sometimes due to their lack of diversity, by which I mean they typically focus on many of the same titles we’ve been hearing about all year. And while i don’t discount the quality of those works, I do wonder sometimes if it’s just a squeaky wheel situation. I suspect a lot of fabulous books just haven’t been mentioned enough for people to discover them. Still, I do sometimes stumble across new titles on the lists, or get reminded of things that I was curious about but somehow forgot in the jumble of new releases.

Whatever your weekend plans, I hope you have some quality reading and writing time on the calendar. Enjoy!

NPR’s Book Concierge: Our Guide to the Best Books of 2014 – A fun, interactive list that has something for everyone, including comics.

How Writers Read (vol. 2) – A continuation of the article I linked to last week.

Ursula K. LeGuin on Where Ideas Come From – Thoughtful look at the early phase of a writing project.

Plotting the Non-Plot-Driven Novel – Donald Maass on quieter reads.

A Reading List for the Month of Storytelling by the Fire – Reading suggestions compiled with a winter read in mind.

Holiday Shopping for Writers

Nephele Tempest

The gift-giving season is upon us, so I wanted to gather together some suggestions for things that might suit the writer in your life (or that you might want to add to your own letter to Santa). I’ve mentioned some of these in previous years, but a good gift is a good gift, and writers in particular tend to be appreciative of things that encourage them in their craft or enable them to spend time writing. Many of these will be appropriate gifts for readers, as well, for obvious reasons.

Writerly gifts:

Scrivener – Many writers swear by this software. It allows you to create your manuscript in sections that can be easily dragged around and reordered, has a built in cork board function where you can get an overview of the parts of your work, allows for research materials to be imported directly into the project, and much more. Once you’re done, you can compile the pieces of your manuscript into Word, script format, e-book format, and so on. Available for both Mac and Windows.

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Aeon Timeline – This software allows you to create a timeline not just for a single project but for an entire series. It will track character ages for different events, births and deaths, whatever history you’ve developed for your books, etc. Particularly helpful for anyone writing historical fiction, or anything involving extensive world building. Available for both Mac and Windows.

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Ecosystem Journal – These blank books are made from recycled materials and boast sturdy pages that protect against bleed-through from heavier ink, such as fountain pens. They come in small, medium, and large sizes, blank, ruled, or with grid paper, and in a number of bright colors as well as black. Great for the writer who keeps an ideas book, journals, doodles, or prefers drafting longhand.

Leuchtturm1917 Notebook – Another high-quality blank book, this features page numbers and a blank table of contents, in addition to sturdy pages of a lovely off-white paper. As with the Ecosystem, you can select type of page (ruled, blank, etc.) and the notebooks come in assorted colors. The company offers other types of books, as well, such as planners, if you’re looking to gift someone with a set.

Decomposition Books – Great notebooks in the old composition or spiral notebook formats, but with fun printed covers. Perfect for anyone looking for a slightly more utilitarian notebook.

Fountain pens – A slightly old-school gift, a lovely fountain pen — either new or antique — along with some ink, can be a beautiful gift for a writer.

Books on writing – Most writers love writing books. I’ll post a separate list of writing-related books I love in a couple of days, but you’ll find tons in most good bookstores, in the reference section.

A gift certificate for some pampering – Writing can be hard on the back, the eyes. All that sitting. Gift your writer with a massage or spa day, or a series of neck rubs. Writers — especially struggling writers — don’t often allot money for little luxuries, even when they need them.

The gift of time – Real life often gets in the writer’s way, making demands and allowing less time for writing. Take over a chore or responsibility for the writer in your life in order to give them an extra hour or two to write. If you live with the writer, make dinner a couple of nights a week. Offer to babysit or take their kids out of the house for a chunk of time on the weekend.

A writing retreat – If you’re looking to give your writer something a little more expansive, send them off for a quiet weekend at a cozy inn or cabin in the woods, just them and their muse. Don’t pick a tourist location that will tempt them to go out and sightsee, but somewhere quiet, or local, with room service and a nice desk.

Literary-themed gifts:

Shakespeare Insult Shirt – This t-shirt features a collection of witty insults by the Bard. Great for writers, Shakespeare fans, or anyone looking for a good come back.

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Classic Tote Bag – Give your favorite writer or reader one of these sturdy tote bags featuring art work from a classic novel, such as Pride and Prejudice, Animal Farm, or Gone with the Wind, or with some bookish feature, like a list of banned books. Great for carting books from the library, hitting the farmer’s market, or carrying a notebook and other writing paraphernalia.

Litographs Poster – This company prints literary posters where the design itself is created from the text of the books. Available for a number of classic titles, and the designs can also be purchased on t-shirts and tote bags.

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Read Harder T-shirt – One of several designs on offer from the new bookish store at Book Riot.

2015 Literary Wall Calendar – A different author/quote each month in a beautiful black-and-white design.

Evolution of Literature Poster – Featuring an image for each of 34 authors arranged chronologically. Posters featuring just one author are also available.

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Literary Cufflinks – Handmade, featuring text on the front image.

Subscription to a literary magazine/journal – Especially helpful for writers interesting in essays or short fiction. I’ll include a list of suggestions in my upcoming post featuring books for writers.

 

 

 

 

Last Day of the Year

Nephele Tempest

Happy New Year’s Eve! I don’t mind saying that 2013 has been a challenging year. I dubbed it bipolar early on and it never proved me wrong; most everything seemed to go either really well or really badly, with no noticeable middle ground. So I’m excited for 2014 and its fresh perspective, and a chance to tackle some new projects.

How has your writing year gone for you? Did you reach any new milestones? Discover your voice? Make a breakthrough? Or did you find this a year of challenges as well? Whatever your answer, today is the perfect time to give the past 364 days a good, hard look and determine what you’d like to do differently going forward. Write more, read more, submit more…. and of course lose that five pounds you picked up courtesy of holiday treats.

For those of you participating in my December Writing Challenge, you should have a month of writing, more or less, under your belts, and a great new daily writing habit. Don’t forget to keep it up going into January! It’s a great feeling, committing to something and making it a priority in your life, and your writing will be all the stronger thanks to your efforts.

I hope you’ve all had a great month and a wonderful year, whatever frustrations you’ve faced, and that 2014 brings you a wealth of new wonders and joys. May it be happy, healthy, and successful. Good luck to you all in whatever you attempt.

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Happy holidays and happy Friday! I’m afraid I have a rather short supply of links this week, mostly because I’m visiting my parents and not spending my usual endless hours per day online. But that said, I think this truncated list is a good one, so I hope you enjoy. Best wishes for the weekend. Don’t forget to get some writing done! Just a few days left in December to set all those excellent writing habits for the new year. Happy writing!

Opportunities for Writers: January and February 2014 – Upcoming contests and calls for work.

The Poems (We Think) We Know: “The Night Before Christmas” – A really interesting history of the famous holiday poem.

Write-a-House: Detroit’s Writer Residency Program – Forget devoting a couple of weeks in the summer to nothing but writing. Detroit is giving houses to writers; to keep.

More Writing Inspiration

Nephele Tempest

If you’re participating in the December Writing Challenge, you’ve been going strong for just about three weeks now. How are you doing? Have you managed to write every day, even if it meant just stealing a few minutes here and there? Are the words flowing more easily or are you beginning to struggle? Has life been getting in the way?

Here’s the thing: Even if you miss more days than you’d like, you should continue to strive toward a daily writing session. Make the decision to write and commit to your career. Ultimately, you’ll get far more accomplished than if you throw in the towel simply because you’ve skipped more writing days than the challenge allows. At the end of the day, this is your writing, your ambition, your decision. No one is watching over your shoulder; this all depends on what you want, and how badly you want it.

For anyone finding themselves stalling out on a project, I’ve got another mini writing prompt for you. Go write a short holiday story. Any holiday you wish — doesn’t have to be one taking place in December. Think of all the stories and books you’ve read that revolve around holidays, or the movies or TV specials you’ve viewed. You can tackle a holiday from a kid’s perspective or a family gathering for a feast, one that inspires travel or reflection. There are many holidays to choose from, and even more approaches to take once you’ve picked one. Play around a bit. This prompt could easily keep you going through the end of the month.

Enjoy, and happy writing!