My favorite books about the writing life

Every time someone asks me to recommend a book on writing, this is the first book that comes to mind.

It is a two-part wonder, one part memoir and one part master class on writing. Your first treat is the tale of this expert storyteller’s path to being a writer. And then come the tips. One of my favorite tips involves killing all your adverbs, words he likens to weeds.

Whether you’re a fan of Stephen King’s stories or not, this is the book for you if you want to experience what it feels like to be a writer and you want to learn how to write well. 

I was drawn to this book by the title but also the subtitle: The intermingling of fishing and writing in a novelist’s life.

As a fly fisherman and writer myself, I have often thought about the connection between fishing and writing, and more particularly, the similar experiences that come from both, so when I learned about this book, I had to read it. Craig Nova does not disappoint.

Fishing is about good stories, and Nova tells them in this book, but he also reveals how fishing and writing have common needs, such as the need to be in the moment.

He also is honest about the challenges of being a writer and he uses the stream to remind us that when, as he says, “the literary weather is going to take a turn for the worst, what is needed, more than anything else, is the ability to calm down.” 

What better way to experience what it feels like to be a writer than to read the reflections of one of the South’s beloved storytellers?

Pat Conroy was a writer who mentored other writers, quick with a blurb and a word of encouragement. In this book, we find a compilation of his thoughts on writing and publishing from interviews, magazine articles, speeches, and letters.

I loved this book because it shows the personal side of the writer, offering up tidbits about how the internet and technology were mysteries to him, along with his deeper reflections like: “The Great Santini hurt my entire family. But if I didn’t tell the truth the way I saw it, I wasn’t worth anything as a writer.”

Southern writer Rick Bragg’s homage to Pat Conroy at the end of the book is a touching exclamation point. 

I and many other writers think of this book based on the title alone.

There is more to the book that the title, of course, but it is the clue to the meat of the book, which is, and I am paraphrasing: writing is hard to do, so take it one step at a time, sentence by sentence, word by word, bird by bird.

Lamott’s practical writing advice is filled with stories about writing. She is witty and funny and above all, practical. Because writing is difficult, she shines the light on that elephant in the writing room.

Part memoir and part writing advice, it’s nice to read a book that shows that someone who became such a talented writer can remain humble about what it takes to make it happen.    

While some writing books offer nuts and bolts–the so-called rules of writing–this book from Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard teases the writer with essays that make you think.

We are invited into the world of writing with metaphor and we learn by comparison. Like the story of the inchworm stuck in the long grasses, frozen to the tall blades. Perhaps you should just jump, Dillard quips, and put yourself “out of your misery.”

True, writing can be miserable at times, but also, it can be wonderful. I like this book because it is a way to experience what it feels like to be a writer through the craft of prose.