Books To Read While Writing

When we first started out with this business of staying home/quarentining/living through a pandemic, I was talking with a friend who took her middle school son shopping. When he asked what toilet paper should he grab, she replied ‘any port in a storm.’

I still laugh at this image of them panic shopping, and this line has come to mean a lot to me in the past few months. We are all seeking out the things that comfort us, that bring us joy, or peace, or even just a dopamine hit (hello chocolate chip cookies). The people who walk with us, the Zoom calls with college friends, the routine of dinner. Like many people, books have become my biggest port in the storm. And the escape and joys and struggles of getting lost in writing my next novel has been my oasis.

It turns out a silver lining of taking our family schedule and just throwing it in the air is what happens between 2-4. Previously, my day looking like feeding and putting down twins around 1-1:30 for naps and then having my older four charge home from the bus at 2. Then there was welcoming, feeding, and taking in the requests of four busy kids before I made dinner and drove them to activites.

Now, by 2 everyone needs their own space.

What this has come to mean is I have time to write. Like clockwork I get a cup of tea, my favorite writing sweater, and these two cues put my mind in complete writing mode. And I write for 1.5-2 glorious hours, and I remember how the mornings I wrote my first novel were some of the happiest times I ever had. It is so fulfilling to sit down and not know what my mind will come up with, to be surprised everyday, to watch my word count grow and to have the next 5000 words already mapped out in my head. And the clearest sign that I should be doing it is how happy I am when the twins wake up, and I can’t wait to pick up where I left off tomorrow.

I started this book a while ago, and got busy with the twins around 10,000 words. Since quarantine started I’ve picked up momentum and am *almost* at 40,000 which is roughly half a novel. This is all first draft, and I look forward to the molding and shaping that take place in subsequent drafts. This draft just tells me it has the bones to become good, so its a track to run on.

I lot of people told me that they always wanted to write a novel and so I thought I would share the books that are really helping me. I read some of these when I wrote my first and I am returning to them constantly. Some are new ones I am reading/listening to along side writing.

Story Engineering – This book was so useful to organize my plot and feel confident about how to mold the story. He inspires you when you read it to try to push yourself and your writing powers to be the best they can be.

Great Stories Don’t Write Themselves – This is by the same writer, and I just picked it up. He makes you test your plot against criteria, and helps you elevate it in major ways. This is what I’ll be doing for the bulk of this summer. It is one of the reasons why I know my book has the bones to become good – I tested it against his criteria. Getting to the final good draft is another story and a long road but I can’t wait.

Word Painting –

I basically want to sit down and write whenever I read this book. It hones your powers of observation so that when you’re living your life, you notice more things, such as how clouds sometimes look like lily pads, and when you are writing you try hard to name the thing you are writing about correctly, such as the name of a flock of birds you are describing. It captures the really fun part of writing, and in many ways I use it more on the second draft when I have time to really think through the scenes and how to make them sing. For example, one excercise is to take an object and try to describe in in 20 different ways. You think of new things when you really try hard to paint a picture of something for someone else.

In the Woods – Tana French

The novel I am working on is a suspense novel, so I am trying to read other ones to get a feel for plot unfolding, building tensions, and of course great plot twists. French just nails her POV, her tension, her characters. Lots of great examples in her writing. Bonus: the turned it into a show called the Dublin Murders if your book stack is already too high.

Your Blue Flame – Jen Fulwiler’s book is basically the exact explanation of why I write. I started my novel before quarantine, and picked it up again before I listened to her book on Audible, but listening to it as I do dishes and fold laundry is a string of me nodding my head. She has helped me see why I need to write. Everyone will be better off if I do. This book will help anyone find their path.

The Bookshop on the Shore – Finding a new writer with a storytelling voice that sucks you in is an immediate way to be inspired to write. Bonus that this one deals with a love of books, as it centers around a bookshop and the people who work in it who have books like some people have best friends. A great reminder that reading is the healthiest escape, the best form of self care.

The Elements of Style: This book is probably the one I think about the most when I am reading over a scene or editing a nonfiction piece for freelance writing. It advocates removing every unnecessary word, and no piece isn’t improved by removing unneeded words since it always yields clarity. This will help a writer by leaps and bounds.