Books on Writing
- The Right to Write, by Julia Cameron. My most favorite book on the writing process. It always inspires me. If you’re unsure about the full book, its mini-book will convince you.
- On Writing. Yup, by Stephen King. If Julia Cameron is your slightly New Age writing aunt, Stephen King is your hard-working uncle telling you all his crafty tricks in the back corner of a bar and grill.
- If You’re Writing, Let’s Talk, by Joel Saltzman. If you are just getting your feet wet with writing, this is a good book to have, because it follows several different kinds of writers and shows how they overcome–or don’t overcome–their common challenges.
Books on Editing
Because they’re two separate processes!
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. Worth its weight in gold. Shows you, side by side, the difference between hack writing and a pro manuscript so you can improve your work quickly!
Writing Software
- TheSage. Word’s built-in thesaurus (on my laptop, at least) is pitiful. However, it is unwise for me to write and edit on a computer that has internet access. Solution? Download this thorough dictionary-slash-semi-thesaurus. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this sooner. (I still wish the thesaurus was a little better though.)
- TK Notebook 2.13. Simplest free desktop wiki EVER. I spent a week going through all the other free desktop wikis and kept coming back to Notebook. It doesn’t do images. That is its only downside. Otherwise, you can use it as a journal or use it to build an encyclopedia for your sci-fi novel.
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