In my mind, there are two primary kinds of writers—intuitive and meditative. George R.R. Martin describes it another way. Intuitive writers are like gardeners- Dig a hole, drop in a seed and see what grows. Meditative writers are the architects. Meditative writers are planners. Down to the last detail, a meditative writer maps out the narrative from start to finish. I am a firm believer that there is no right or wrong path to writing. The key is to write. No matter what, write. When you do not want to…when you are blocked…write. When all else fails, read about writing.

There are many great books out there but here are three I recommend.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss
A wonderful choice when you want to get down and dirty with punctuation. And who doesn’t, right? It is urbane and utterly English.

Elements of Style by William Strunk
The definitive guidebook on American English writing. It has its detractors but a writer would be remiss to ignore this book.

And finally…
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
My absolute favorite book about writing and the process by one of my favorite authors. One needn’t be a fan of his work to appreciate this book.
Starting in March I am going to begin offering one of these books (and others like them) to one of my blog readers. Stay tuned and visit my website for updates.
Amanda
http://www.progressivedits.com