Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?
Yes, I do read them although not as much as I read fictions. Although I find them a great help to my writing, I don't have too many of them in my library (I have two dictionaries and a Chinese-English dictionary though). Recently I have also mooched a copy of Fiction Writer's Workshop and am reading it in between with my other books. There are also innovative exercises after each chapter which I find it useful. This is a great guide for those who are keen in honing their skills to better fiction writing.
I don't read them, but I do have dictionary on my shelf. But I don't read them like I would a novel. Just use them when ever needed :)
ReplyDeleteI know that you have drafted few good stories, and I still think you should keep up with it cause you did great in writing them :)
I agree I don't use my dictionary unless it is necessary, hehe...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julia! You know, I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. :P Anyway, I haven't been writing for quite some time...
I write poetry and I don't own a rhyming dictionary!
ReplyDeleteLOL!
Mine is up, too!
I have either purchased or thought about purchasing that fiction writer's workshop.
ReplyDeleteIn my post I mostly focused on those type of books as opposed to grammar type books. I am completely addicted to writing books and I have A LOT of them.
I try to write every day and some days the books are invaluable and other days they are completely useless.
Gautami - I enjoy reading your poetry. I subscribed to your poetry blog so that I'll be notified whenever they're up!
ReplyDeleteMegan - I enjoy reading that book so far. I visited your blog earlier and noticed you've listed several writing books there... Some of them looks interesting and I've to check them out. Thanks for sharing. :)
I kind of like writing guides too. I'm not a writer but they're sometimes interesting from a reading perspective. I've never liked writing exercises though. :-s
ReplyDeleteThat book looks interesting!
ReplyDeleteI have lots on writing fiction but I don't think they're doing me any good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book tip! I've been looking for some good writing guides. I have a few on my list by Natalie Goldberg (from the Amazon reviews, she seems to have a pretty fun style), but it's good to hear from another blogger that there are some good fiction writing guides out there.
ReplyDeleteI didn't do this week's BTT! Oh no! But I do have plenty of books on grammar and such that I have collected over the years.
ReplyDeleteGrammar Gal is pretty good too.
Jennifer - I agree with you that some writing guides are interesting from a reading perspective. Some of them are so good that I forgot that they're not for reading pleasure, at least not like fictions, hehe.
ReplyDeleteBarbara - I hope it'll be a keeper. :)
Chris - Well, I haven't been reading many so I'm not sure how I feel about them, yet.
Becca - Thanks! I'll have to look out those books by Natalie Goldberg.
Jaimie - A little library of grammar books! I think I've to start one now, hehe.
Very interesting. I have a Spanish-English dictionary that I refer to alot, but other than that, I don't do much with reference books.
ReplyDeleteKim - I know, I find some reference books can be a bit dry, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that some reference books are being done in an interesting manner. I read some of my gradnpa's old grammar books for fun. :D
ReplyDeleteKat, I think I've thrown away some of my old books! I should've kept them for remembrance. ;)
ReplyDeleteI really don't read reference books apart from Eats, Shoots & Leaves which was quite fun.
ReplyDeleteRhinoa - Can you believe that I don't have that book in my library?! I'm going to get that asap! ;)
ReplyDelete