Three Favorite Books on Writing

Here are three of my favorite books on writing. I find myself going back to them over and over again. I often listen to the audio versions of the books when I'm driving or out for a run, especially on days when I need a boost or "resistance" is taking it's toll. 

"The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
When I first read this, I felt like Steven Pressfield had been camping out in my brain for years and put it all down on paper. In most of this book, Steven Pressfield talks about this thing called "Resistance"--a force of nature that tries to keep us from doing our work. Resistance can show up as the usual "you suck" voice (that creatives know so well) but even more, Resistance is the force of nature that crashes your laptop in the middle of a giant deadline, busts your ankle while you're training for a race and has you fall flat on your face on the way up to the stage to win an award. Steven Pressfield does a great job of explaining what Resistance is , where it comes from and how to get through it. This book has helped me immeasurably. 

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"On Writing" by Stephen King
Being the giant Stephen King fan that I am, I could read about Stephen King making a pastrami sandwich and be happy. What was fascinating to me in this book was not only his theories about writing but the stories he shared about his childhood, addictions and near fatal car crash. Having the insight of such a prolific and best-selling author was worth the price of admission. According to Stephen King, he writes every day including his birthday, Christmas and the Fourth of July.  For me, the fact that he narrated his own audiobook was the icing on the cake. 

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"Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott
This book has helped keep me sane--or better yet, helped me realize that insanity is an integral part of the creative process. Anne Lamott gives an honest and funny account of what it means to be a writer, what it means (or doesn't mean) to get published and some overall great insight on the process from idea to agent. One quote that stuck with me (that might have been a requote) was "Being enough is an inside job." 

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If you need some motivation to write every day (or to do anything else daily) Don't Break the Chain.com is a simple and neat website to help you commit. You just click each day you've accomplished your task and try not to "break the chain." I've been using it over the past month to help me quit caffeine (more about that later) and it's been satisfying to see the little red blocks add up.