Books to Buy Your Writer Friends
My top ten favorite books on writing
You cannot go wrong buying the writer in your family a book on writing, even if they have a bookcase full of books to help them learn about this challenging art.
Since it’s time to begin Christmas shopping for those who celebrate Christmas, I thought I’d give you a list of the top ten books that made a difference in my writing career.
1. Becoming a Writer by Dorthea Brande
Brande wrote this little book back in 1934, and when I was nineteen (in the 1980s, not in the 1930s), I found this book in the Long Beach Public Library. Given that I wanted to do precisely what the title said — become a writer — I figured it was a great book to start with, and I was right.
This book intends to help a non-writer become a writer, so it’s not a “how to write” book; it’s a book that will help transform those thinking about writing into the mindset of being a writer. There’s a huge difference. Who are writers? What do they do? How do they write? These are the topics she covers to show wannabe writers that anyone can learn to be a writer if they believe they can write and act as writers do.
For a young nineteen-year-old kid who didn’t have the confidence, knowledge, or skills to write yet…
