A Designer’s Resolve: Complete Book List

This is the complete book list for the A Designer’s Resolve. A full list of resources can be found at A Designer’s Resolve: Resources.
Since early High School I’ve wanted to write, but it wasn’t until 2002 before I made a move. I started out by lurking at writing forums, taking notes on the books they’d post, then order at amazon. Amazon, of course, opened up a whole new list of books.
In the beginning I bought books for writers – the writing life, how to create characters, etc. None were suitable for a non-writer so a couple of years ago I backed out and bought from the lower end of the writing scale – grammar and punctuation, sentence structure, balanced lessons. Then topped them off with professional writing guides.
Below is the whole list, all the way from misguided to excellent. As I’m a book lover, this list will continue to grow. My growing wish list will attest to that.
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Mentor S.) (Paperback) by Gary Provost
101 Elegant Paragraphs by Robert Hartwell Fiske
1000 Most Important Words (Mass Market Paperback) by Norman W. Schur
Advertizing Secrets of the Written Word by Joseph Sugarman
Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, Seventh Edition (Paperback) by M. Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley
A Writer’s Coach by Jack Hart
Becoming a Writer (Paperback) by Dorothea Brande
Bestseller: Secrets of Successful Writing (Paperback) by Celia Brayfield
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Paperback) by Anne Lamott
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (Paperback) by E.Cobham Brewer (Editor), Adrian Room (Editor)
Choose the Right Word: Second Edition (Paperback) by S. I. Hayakawa
Collins Good Writing Guide (Paperback) by Graham King
Creating Character Emotions (Paperback) by Ann Hood
Creative Writing Coursebook, the Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction and Poetry (Hardcover) by Julia Bell (Editor), Paul Magrs (Editor)
Developmental Exercises to Accompany Rules For Writers by Diana Hacker, Wanda Van Goor
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Paperback) by Lynne Truss
English Grammar In Use with Answers and CD ROM: A Self-study Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Students of English (Paperback) by Raymond Murphy
How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-By-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling (How to Write a Damn Good Novel) (Hardcover) by James N. Frey
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland
Improve Your Spelling (Penguin Writers’ Guides S.) (Paperback) by George Davidson
Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition (Paperback) by S. I. Hayakawa, S.I. Hayakawa
Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing by Claire Kehrwald Cook
Literature: A Crash Course (Crash Course (Watson-Guptill)) (Hardcover) by Julian Bell
Mastering Point of View (Paperback) by Sherri Szeman
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well) (Paperback) by William K. Zinsser
Oxford Thesaurus of English (Thesaurus) (Hardcover)
New Hart’s Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors (Hardcover) by R. M. Ritter (Adapter)
New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors: The essential A-Z guide to the written word. by R. M. Ritter (Editor), Angus Stevenson (Editor), Lesley Brown (Editor)
Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson
Rules for Writers (Spiral-bound) by Diana Hacker
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (Paperback) by Renni Browne
Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose (Hardcover) by Constance Hale
Spunk & Bite: A writer’s guide to punchier, more engaging language & style by Author Plotnik
The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language (Hardcover) by Melvyn Bragg
The Art & Craft of Novel Writing by Oakley Hall
The Book on Writing by Paula LaRocque
The Careful Writer (Paperback) by Theodore M. Bernstein
The Cassell Dictionary of Word Histories (Hardcover) by Adrian Room
The Creativity Book: A Year’s Worth of Inspiration and Guidance (Paperback) by Eric Maisel
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager and the Doomed by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
The Disheveled Dictionary: A Curious Caper Through Our Sumptuous Lexicon by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
The Elements of Style (Paperback) by William I. Strunk
The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Better Business Writing by Barbara and Ruth Cash-Smith
The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing by Thomas S. Kane
The Thinker’s Thesaurus by Peter E. Meltzer
Ways to Writing: Purpose, Task, and Process (Paperback) by Linda C. Stanley
Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method (Paperback) by Gerald M. Weinberg
What If?: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (Paperback) by Anne Bernays
Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English (Hardcover) by Patricia T. O’Conner
Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing (Hardcover) by Patricia O’Conner
Write Faster, Write Better by David A. Fryxell
Writing Dialogue (Paperback) by Tom Chiarella
Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Pocket Classics S.) (Paperback) by Natalie Goldberg
Writing for Design Professionals by Stephen A. Kliment
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Paperback) by Janet Burroway
Writing Fiction Step by Step (Paperback) by Josip Novakovich
Writing for Design Professionals: A Guide to Writing Successful Proposals, Letters, Brochures, Portfolios, Reports, Presentations, and Job Applications, Second Edition (Hardcover) by Stephen A. Kliment
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
Reminder to self: Update my LibraryThing
This has been a part of my New Year’s Resolution: Learn to Write series. The index can be found at the Learn to Write: Recap.
Three pages were created from the series – A Designer’s Resolve, A Designer’s Resolve: Resources and this one.
regards,
Catherine (cat) Wentworth
Designers Who Blog





















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