writing

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Thumbs up for Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st-Century Writer by Jeff VanderMeer. Nonfiction/writing.

Books on how to write are so common you could pave a freeway with them. This one’s different. It’s about being a writer – not writing, but actually functioning in the world as a professional or semi-professional fiction author. As such it covers everything from goal-setting, self-assessment, social media, blogging, dealing with fans/peers/editors/publishers, and PR – and that’s just the first 80 pages.… >> Read more

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Thumbs up for for Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale – The Final Chapter by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook. Nonfiction/writing.

A warning. Two things are necessary for you to read this book. You must be a) a serious Doctor Who fan (by which I mean your ringtone was composed by Murray Gold, and you know who that is); and also you must be b) deeply interested in writing and/or TV production.… >> Read more

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

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Neutral rating for Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Writing. RE-READ.

I read this when I was fourteen or so, after reading some brilliant quotes from it which Jon Winokur included in his magnificent collection Advice for Writers. I had high expectations: but I was disappointed. This time I began with low expectations, and was delighted when I found myself laughing out loud in the introduction.… >> Read more