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Valuable Resources for Writers

At the end of this general list, you will find special resources for poets and
writers of creative nonfiction.

Books:

Writer's Market
(or specific editions such as Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, etc.) All are published by Writer's Digest Books and updated annually or every other year.

Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents (updated periodically)
by Jeff Herman

How To Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and
How To Overcome Them
by Sol Stein

Stein on Writing
by Sol Stein (essentials on craft and technique)

The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing
Eds.: Frank Dickson and Sandra Smythe
(compilation of articles for WD magazine)

Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life
by Philip Gerard

Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making
by John Fox

The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku
by William Higginson

Creating Poetry
by John Drury

The Poet's Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices
by William Packard

Writers' Tools:

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotes

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotes

Roget's Super Thesaurus

If you write for magazines and books - The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition)

The NEWEST dictionary available (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and The American Heritage Dictionary are editors' favorites.)

Random House Webster's Pocket Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation (handy for quick look-ups)

Books for Inspiration and Support:

The Artist's Way
by Julia Cameron
(will help you free blocks to creativity and get you in the habit of writing; not a "how to write" book)

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott (entertaining; funny; not a how-to book)

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg (includes good writing exercises)

The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear
by Ralph Keyes
(Afraid of failure? Afraid of success? Just afraid? This book really helps! And it’s filled with fascinating stories of how accomplished writers deal with their own bugaboos.)

Magazines for Writers:

Poets & Writers (http://www.pw.org/)

The Writer (http://www.writermag.com/)

Writers' Digest (http://www.writersdigest.com/)

Writers' Journal (http://www.writersjournal.com/)

Books for Poets:

Poet's Market
Published by Writer's Digest Books; updated every year or two

The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets
by Ted Kooser

How to Publish Your Poetry
by Helen Ciaravino

A Poet’s Guide to Poetry
by Kathryn S. Brogan

Finding What You Didn’t Lose: Expressing Your Truth Through Poem-Making
by John Fox

Creating Poetry
by John Drury

The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of Prosody and Poetic Devices
by William Packard

The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku
by William Higginson

You Must Revise Your Life: Poets on Poetry
Ed.: William Stafford

The Sound of Poetry: A Brief Guide
by Robert Pinsky

Poemcrazy
by Susan Goldsmith Woolridge

The Shape of Poetry: A Practical Guide to Writing Poetry
by Peter Meinke

Writing Personal Poetry: Creating Poems From Your Life Experiences
by Sheila Bender

Poets' Tools:

The newest dictionary available (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and
The American Heritage Dictionary are editors’ favorites.)

Roget’s Super Thesaurus

Magazines for Poets:

Poets & Writers
www.pw.org

Writers’ Digest
www.writersdigest.com
(mostly for prose writers, but often runs articles about poetry)

The Writer
www.writermag.com

Writers’ Journal
www.writersjournal.com

Websites for Poets:

www.poeticbyway.com
An excellent guide for the study of poetry; includes a comprehensive glossary of poetic terms

www.poets.org
The American Academy of Poets’ site; includes biographies of famous authors, collected reviews, and articles

www.poems.com
Poetry Daily’s site posts reviews of contemporary poets’ work, as well as the poems.

www.poetrysociety.org

www.ibiblio.org/ipa/

How-To Books for Creative Nonfiction:

Writing Personal Essays: How to Shape Your Life Experiences for the Page
by Sheila Bender

Writing Creative Nonfiction
Edited by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard
(Essays on writing creative nonfiction by more than thirty authors)

Creative Nonfiction: Researching and Crafting Stories of Real Life
by Philip Gerard
(director of the creative writing program at UNC-Wilmington)

The Art of Creative Nonfiction
by Lee Gutkind

Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir
Edited by William Zinsser (wonderful essays by nine authors who have written memoirs, including Annie Dillard, Frank McCourt, and Toni Morrison)

Magazines for Creative Nonfiction:

Many magazines publish creative nonfiction. My favorite is The Sun, a monthly magazine with no advertising that is published in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. You can find it at many bookstores and in public libraries. (I recommend subscribing to it; the subscription rate is quite reasonable.)

Check out the latest Writer’s Market for magazines that publish this kind of work. For those just starting out, the literary and “little” magazines are a good place to begin; there are more than one hundred listed in the current Writer’s Market.

Works of Creative Nonfiction:

There are hundreds of examples, but here are a few of my favorites:

Growing Up
by Russell Baker

Liars' Club
by Mary Karr

Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott

Long Quiet Highway
by Natalie Goldberg

Fear of Fifty
by Erica Jong

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
by James McBride

Angela’s Ashes
by Frank McCourt

Breaking Writer’s Block:

As you get into writing creative nonfiction you may decide to pen some personal experience stories, even a memoir. If so, you may discover you are nervous about telling certain stories. (What would Aunt Maude say?) Recommended treatment: You must read...

The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear
by Ralph Keyes

Websites for Creative Nonfiction:

http://www.creativenonfiction.org/index.htm
(This site bills itself as “the voice of the genre.”)