Recommended books on writing
- The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron
- The Art of Writing and the Gifts of Writers, C. S. Lewis
- Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
- Damn Fine Story, Chuck Wendig
- Elements of Writing Fiction: Beginnings, Middles & Ends, Nancy Kress
- Elements of Writing Fiction: Characters & Viewpoint, Orson Scott Card
- Elements of Writing Fiction: Conflict, Action & Suspense, William Noble
- Elements of Writing Fiction: Scene & Structure, Jack M. Bickham
- The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi
- The Emotional Craft of Fiction, Donald Maass
- The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
- Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go, Les Edgerton
- If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland
- Novelist’s Essential Guide to Creating Plot, J. Madison Davis
- On Moral Fiction, John Gardner
- On Writing by Stephen King
- On Writing Well, William Zinsser
- Revising Fiction: Making Sense of the Madness, Kirt Hickman
- Revision & Self-Editing: Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft Into a Finished Novel, James Scott Bell
- Screenwriting Tricks For Authors, Alexandra Sokoloff
- Secrets of Character, Matt Bird
- Secrets of Story, Matt Bird
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Browne & King
- Stein on Writing, Sol Stein
- The Story Grid, Shawn Coyne
- The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
- The Writing Life, Annie Dillard
- Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure, James Scott Bell
- Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury
Tools & Organizations
- Scrivener (word processing with lots of functionality for writers)
- Autocrit (an online editing tool–I use the pro version, and it’s worth every penny)
- Mynoise.net and asoftmurmur.com (soundscape generators)
- Evernote (note taker and organizer)
- Social Security Administration name list (find era-appropriate character names)
- Freedom (web blocker)
- Dragon dictation
- Google ngram viewer (find the right word for the era you’re writing in)
Workshops and Speaking Topics
- The Importance of Story in Life and Work
- It’s Never Too Late to Write Your Novel
- How to Save Your Manuscript with the Story Grid
- What’s Your Canoe? How to Identify Your Novel’s Achilles Heel(s)
- How to Form or Join a Critique Group
- How to Give and Take Artistic Criticism
- Using Social Media to Sell More Books
- Sell More Books with BookBub Ads
- Facebook Ads for Authors
- Building a Website for the Technophobic
- How to Produce a Non-cheesy Book Trailer on the Cheap