Books for writers recommended by The Australian Society of Authors – What writing books do you have on your shelf?
My bookshelves are loaded with books on writing, books on publishing as well as books on business, sustainable living, permaculture, farming, societal resilience, useful plants, nature, bees, and…oh yes, more books on writing and publishing. Though I read plenty of other books in addition to these topics (mostly borrowed from the library), the ones that earn a place on the bookshelf are books that I like to refer to again and again or have some extra special meaning.
These books have – and continue to – teach, challenge and invigorate me and I’m so grateful for the generosity of the authors for taking the time to tease out their ideas, research old paths, lay new ones and for their sharing of them which has led me on my own writing and life adventures.
I’m also grateful to the Australian Society of Author’s (ASA) for recently recognising my non-fiction writing and self-publishing guide, Look – It’s Your Book!, by adding it to their Recommended Reading List.
To have the peak body for authors in Australia see the value in the content of the book for Australian writers is, as you can probably imagine, a great honour.
The ASA’s Recommended Reading List includes writing books across a wide spectrum, from books on editing through to books on writing memoir, books on writing for kids through to writing fiction.
It really is an honour to be recommended alongside great authors from Australia and around the world, so head over to the ASA’s list, or here are some of my favourite writing books from the list (in alphabetical order):
- Garry Disher, Writing Fiction: An Introduction to the Craft
- Kate Grenville, The Writing Book: A Practical Guide to Fiction Writing
- Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
- Lee Kofman, The Writer Laid Bare: Emotional Honesty in a Writer’s Art, Craft and Life
- Anne Lamont, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Patti Miller, Writing True Stories: The Complete Guide to Writing Autobiography, Memoir, Personal Essay, Biography, Travel and Creative Nonfiction
- Georgia Richter and Deborah Hunt, How to be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia
So, though I never thought I’d see the name Anna Featherstone in the same list as these writing luminaries, it just goes to show that if you write a focussed book in a way that can provide important insights and solve real problems for your readers, that somewhere out there is a recommended reading list in your genre, just waiting to add your name to it too!
Get writing (and reading) 🙂 and have a wonderful rest of the day.