Learn to Write: Part 2: Helpful Writing Books

Helpful Writing Books

As mentioned in New Year’s Resolution: Learn to Write: Part 1, back in 2002 I started collecting books to help with my writing goals.

Pretty much the whole list is elsewhere, but I’ve elected to share only those that are helping me at this stage (and if I’d be more diligent in my studies, they’d help even more). This doesn’t mean that they all aren’t a decent read (I really should go through that grammar CD). It just means I’ve selected these few for now.

Some of the books are resources, some give advice, some have lessons. I feel comfortable with all. Well, most all, as I did throw in some I MUST read.

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Mentor S.) (Paperback) by Gary Provost

1000 Most Important Words (Mass Market Paperback) by Norman W. Schur

Collins Good Writing Guide (Paperback) by Graham King

Developmental Exercises to Accompany Rules For Writers by Diana Hacker and Wanda Van Goor

Rules for Writers (Spiral-bound) by Diana Hacker

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Paperback) by Lynne Truss

Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing by Claire Kehrwald Cook

On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well) (Paperback) by William K. Zinsser

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)

Spunk & Bite: A writer’s guide to punchier, more engaging language & style by Author Plotnik

The Careful Writer (Paperback) by Theodore M. Bernstein

The Elements of Style (Paperback) by William I. Strunk

The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing by Thomas S. Kane

Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method (Paperback) by Gerald M. Weinberg

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

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark

101 Elegant Paragraphs A Vocabula 101 Series Handbook, written by Robert Hartwell Fiske

Following will be Part 3 with Online Writing Guidelines, Part 4 Online Dictionaries, Part 5 Online Writing Tips: Individual Articles, Part 6 Online Writing Courses, Part 7 The Plan.

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 A Designer’s Resolve: Complete book list.