So You Want to Be a Writer?

I meet lots of people who have a book idea in the back of their minds. Maybe they’ve always wanted to get it down onto paper, but they don’t know how. It sounds like an impossible challenge! I still consider myself a beginning writer, but the following books and websites have been helpful to me. (Note: Many of these are affiliate links.)

For All Writers

• How to Write Fast (While Writing Well), by David Fryxell
• The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book, by Susan Page
• The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White
• Getting the Words Right:  How to Rewrite, Edit and Revise, by Theodore A. Rees Cheney
• The 28 Biggest Writing Blunders (and How to Avoid Them), by William Noble
• The Complete Guide to Self Publishing, by Tom & Marilyn Ross
• You Can Market Your Books, by Carmen Leal
• WriterSpeaker.com, by Carmen Leal
• Writer’s Market magazine, by Writer’s Digest Books (look for the current year’s edition at your local library)
• Platform, by Michael Hyatt

Fiction

• You Can Write a Novel, by James Smith, Jr.
• The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them), by Jack Bickham

Websites, Bloggers, Resources

• 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills
• Scrivener – The best writing software (so much better than Microsoft Word!)
• Amy Lynn Andrews – Help for writers who also need to be bloggers
• Michael Hyatt – Best blogger with advice for writers