Online Writing Books

I knew within 10 minutes of opening this book I would adopt it for my multi-media/convergence course. It is a carefully crafted book written with grace. The new world of media is moving at break-neck speed and this is a book that helps all of us envision what the future can and will be. Although a complex and even controversial topic, Quinn and Filak explain, define and provide a great jumping off point for their readers into the world of convergence. The chapters are written by authors of power, credibility and good common sense. Best of all, my students like -- that's right like -- the book.

Ralph Braseth is director of the fully converged student media center at the University of Mississippi and is assistant professor of journalism

Bob Feller was a sensation from the time that he signed by the Cleveland Indians to leave the family farm in Van Meter, Iowa to report directly to the big leagues as a teenager. When he completed his high school education by taking correspondence classes and returned home to take part in commencement exercises, Feller was accompanied by newsreel cameramen. His graduation was national news.

Feller was one of the fastest pitchers in baseball history. He routinely lead the American League in strike outs, but also suffered from wildness when he could not locate his 100 m.p.h. fastball. Nevertheless, he topped the league in wins six times. He recorded three no hit games.

His noteworthy career was interrupted by World War II (Feller served four years in the Navy) and he had the misfortune to play for a succession of poor teams in Cleveland before the Tribe became a contending ballclub. As such, Feller was unable to reach 300 career wins. He came close, but missed the mark by missed the mark by thirty-four wins. Unquestionably, he would have reached that mark, but for the war.

He was a perennial All Star and played on two pennant winners and one World Championship team. One of his key regrets was that he did not record a win in World Series play: He was 0-2 in the 1948 series, including one especially tough loss to Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves (a 2-1 decision highlighted by a disputed call on a pickoff attempt); in 1954, Feller never pitched an inning as the Indians were swept in four straight by the New York Giants.

Feller is a blunt and unapologetic individual. He has made more than a few controversial remarks when commenting upon baseball related subjects. He is one of the most talented pitchers to have played baseball and he knows it. Readers may find this somewhat off putting as Feller can come across as arrogant, immodest and extremely opinionated. In my case, the narrative tone employed throughout the book detracted from my enjoyment of Feller's autobiography. As the axiom goes, it takes nine men make a team.

The title on the cover of this excellent book may be confusing, as it is a partial title...Internet Guide for Students & Writers. The plastic spine has the complete title, as does the title page. The work covers an overview of connecting to the Internet and access to FTP, Gopher, Telnet, and WWW sites, and is a Style manual for all the major style manuals including APA (American Psychological Association,) MLA (Modern Language Association,) CMS (Chicago Manual of Style) and CBE (Council of Biology Editors.) The latter uses the 6th edition of Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors Editors and Publishers. I recommend this small spiral bound book to my writers and dissertation research classes.

I was expecting an exhaustive encyclopedia of baseball trivia. This book is not that!

Instead, it's a meandering, enjoyable chat with a knowledgeable friend about baseball on a summer afternoon on the porch. Vince Staten frames his entire book around a big league game he attended with his grown son, but somehow every facet of that experience leads off on a tangent to a fascinating exploration of baseball stadium and game trivia from the ticket buying experience (which leads to essays on ticket printing and turnstiles), to telling his son about the time a shortstop lost a ball because it bounced off a pebble (which leads to an in-depth interview of a groundskeeper), to a certain snugness in the stadium seat (which leads to a well researched essay on studies through the decades of the width of the typical American backside).

These essays have certainly made my baseball game experiences more enjoyable and given me a store of trivia to trot out at parties!

The book is an attempt by its authors to come to grips with the effect of the Internet on how to teach writing skills to a university audience. It shows how students are becoming, or indeed have become, facile with elaborate typography and colours, and images and hyperlinks to web sites or other resources on the Web. Yet, if you turn to a teaching text of say twenty years not, nothing is said of this. Because the Web did not then exist.

So the book tries to bring up suggestions for new pedagogies. That do not reject the Internet experiences and abilities of the students, but embrace these. In the hope of ultimately laying out more powerful writings. Still to early to say how fruitful these will be. But worth contemplating.

As always, an engaging work of nonfiction because she includes so many personal anecdotes and sensory details from her own life. Because her writing is so beautiful and clear, it makes for a fast, effortless read. No question that she is an immensely gifted writer. Its midlife perspective made the book intriguing: she's about 56 years old now and seems simultaneously more relaxed with, and less inclined to romanticize, the writing life. She does push her reading audience (and her students) to publish with no real attempt to address how hard that is these days. The beginning really caught my attention with her informal poll of all her writer friends: none of them could truly call themselves happy. They were writers but it never brought them happiness. Her point seemed to be that it won't bring you happiness, but it's still a worthy practice. A part near the end grabbed my attention: about earth-shattering events in a writer's life that can make them find their "voice." For her, it was discovering Zen Buddhism. For Paul Monette, it was losing his true love to AIDs and knowing he was next. At times she seems a little too enamored of playing annoying Zen master to her worshipful writing-workshop students, but I guess that's a small price for the reader to pay for some good insights.

For someone who spends so much time meditating -- and writing about that experience -- Goldberg is the most neurotic nonfiction writer I've ever tried to read. I'll definitely give her earlier books a read, but there was really nothing new or unique in this work that I could really use. Her "voice" was so irritating that I just had to put it down a third of the way though.

natalie goldberg, famous for writing down the bones, is a sister, an encourager, a deep artist-maker-writer-soulstress who lays open her insight, her striving, her struggle, her bannana rose triumph and despair, her writing rules, her friendships, her jewish origin and zen discoveries, her brilliance to serve as a bridge from wanna be to writer. she does it effortlessly--or so it seems, exuding the leadership, the know-how, the willingness, the courage, to stand at the front of the room in the workshop in your mind.

i think i bought and started reading this book back in june of last year--when james was home last. it inspired me to start some writing activities at artescape. it inspired me to recommit to the daily act of my own writing. it inspired me to keep going, keep putting the words down, keep my hand moving, keep getting to the end of the page, keep practicing, keep keeping on. and, as with all spiritual practices, along the way, i started and stopped, i seized on ideas, i took detours, i had insights, i learned, i grew, i glimpsed a new shadow in the the big mystery.... and i continue, through what she calls writing practice and what julia cameron calls morning pages to get the benefits of the exercise: to grow.

here's what goldberg has to say about writing practice:

"we wrote for half an hour, read to each other, wrote another half hour, read aloud. by the end we were both beaming. writing practice had done it again--digested our sorrow, dissolved and integrated our inner rigidity, and let us move on. i don't even remember what we wrote about. it didn't matter. the effort of forming words, physically connecting hand with mind and heart, and then having the freedom to read aloud transformed us. yes, writing practice is good."

and so, throughout this book and all her others, i am encouraged. i love the words of artists and others who encourage me--who keep me moving, keep me fueled, keep me creating and trying and growing as an artist, as a writer. she is in the sacred sisterhood of my bookshelf. she is a regular healer i visit often--with her wise insight and bravery. she is ahead of me on the path--and, knowing i (and others) are following, is kind enough to leave her bread crumbs in such an appetizing book. she is a map maker--my map maker--having charted the course to the new world and encountered the sea monsters and natives and she has left word of the journey, so that i might make my own way.

I love this book! I love Natalie Goldberg! I have listened to "Thunder and Lightening" two times already while taking my afternoon walks (what luxury), and I can't wait to get that headset on.
Natalie writing in the coffee shops- eating chocolate, hanging out at the library and bookstores--Natalie's valuable insights into the writing life is electifying and invigorating and inspiring; she actually makes us believe we can all write--

Natalie thought writing would give her everything--but she admits it did not. One needs to incorporate something more, and for Natalie, that something more was the teaching of Zen. I have yet to know a writer who does not have "that something more." Because after all, the writing flows from something other than the mind--doesn't it?

Writing Practice---Writing Practice---Writing Practice

Will this make us essayists, poets, novelists? Natalie Goldberg says it will. If you don't believe it, stop writing. If you do believe it, write until you crack open, and the words flow into the world like a gift.

NOW GO ON YOUR WALK and become inspired. Forget walking with a friend and walk with Natalie! You will not be disappointed!!!!

I'm not just a writer, I'm a reader and collector of books. And I've collected and read a lot of books on writing over the course of my almost forty years of life. It seems to me that books on writing generally fall into about three categories: 1) reference material, such as the classic _Elements of Style_ by Strunk and White, or _On Writing Well_ by William Zinsser; 2) Exercise books, that give you a short bit of instruction or inspiration and then have exercises to prompt your writing, such as _The Artist's Way_ by Julia Cameron, or _So You Want To Write A Novel_ by Lou Willet Stanek; and 3) Writers on writing, such as Anne Lamott's wonderful _Bird by Bird_ or Stephen King's _On Writing_ or Annie Dillard's _The Writing Life_ (all of which I recommend).

Well, _Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft_ combines the best elements of 2) and 3) in that it is very much Natalie Goldberg writing about how Natalie Goldberg writes, and yet it is also an exploration of techniques and structures and elements of fiction. While there aren't any specific exercises or writing prompts, one could certainly sit down after reading any chapter and do some "writing practice" on the subject talked about in that chapter. Topics covered include structure in fiction, plot, getting inside your character's skin, not distancing yourself emotionally from your fiction, the importance of writing practice in writing fiction, how having a mentor and other writing friends can be helpful in moving you forward and keeping you going when you want to give up.

I found this book to be enormously helpful, and frankly much more useful than some of her other work on writing. Although I do own a copy of _Writing Down the Bones_, it was a bit too spacey for me to really digest. And though I tried to read _Wild Mind_, it also was a bit too far out for me. But this book, _Thunder and Lightning_, really struck me almost like the title. Clear, bright, and grounded, this book is amazing and I highly recommend it.

Read it in an afternoon and enjoyed it a lot! If you're a fan of K. Smith you'll appreciate it. Kevin puts out a lot of great material. Also, check out his podcast "Smodcast". Type SMODCAST into iTunes for a FREE, yes FREE, audio show with Scott Mosier. It's some classic stuff and you'll bust a gut laughing.

Kevin Smith proves himself as a very good writer once again with this collection of his blogs. There is a lot of behind the scenes information given as well as his likes and dislikes when it comes to movies and celebrities. The stories range from funny to serious, but all keep the interest of the reader the entire time. If you are a fan of the "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVD series, this is basically the same kind of thing but in book form. The stories are different than on the DVDs, so I didn't mean that the same stories are told that you have heard a thousand times.

So basically, if you are a fan of Smith, this book is a must have that you won't be able to put down. If you're not a fan, why bother with this in the first place? Fans will find enjoyment, but I doubt those Clerks haters will have their opinions changed. This is for the fans, and fans...I can't say it enough, you will like this book.

What does it mean to have a cult following? When one speaks of directors like Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Martin Scorcese or Steven Spielberg, the reference is to a director that appeals to a broad audience, as opposed to one who appeals to a smaller group. This limited appeal director can be said to have a cult following, and like with regular cults, the followers are often more avid (or deluded, depending on your viewpoint) than their mainstream counterparts. It's the different between Christians and Movementarians (Simpson fans will understand).

Kevin Smith has a cult following and I am one of the cult. He will never have the broad popularity of Eastwood, et al, because that isn't his goal. His movies are crammed with dialogue and limited in action and often the items discussed could be considered offensive. Clerks, Smith's first movie, was almost given an NC-17 rating for the dialogue alone. But to those who don't offend easily, Smith's movies are often really funny. Smith himself is both a funny writer and speaker; as DVDs of his college tours show, he has a definite following and he can be hilarious in person.

Silent Bob Speaks is a collection of essays he has written, primarily for Arena magazine. For those familiar with Smith from other things (his movies, etc.), this fits right in with the Smith they know. If you don't know Smith, this is not the place to start (for example, if you don't know who Silent Bob is, you probably need to rent one of his DVDs first (but not the atypical (although good) Jersey Girl).

Much of the book deals with behind-the-scenes happenings for his movies Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl, with plenty of wonderful asides, such as why he doesn't like Reese Witherspoon but does like David Duchovny. For the most part, he is kind to the celebrities he discusses, and his interviews with Ben Affleck and Tom Cruise will give you some insights into those actors with very little negative material. And, most importantly, the book is really funny.

One reason Smith has his cult following is that he successfully seems like one of the guys. You might like Steven Spielberg, but it's hard to imagine that he'd just like to hang out with you. On the other hand, Smith seems a lot less aloof; his movies are filled with friends of his and his view of himself is nicely self-deprecating. This book is more of what makes a Smith fan a Smith fan.

I am a Kevin Smith fan. I love most of his work and by that I mean I wasn't big on the sequel to "An Evening With Kevin Smith" and I wasn't big on "Chasing Amy" or the animated series of Clerks. The rest of his movies I liked a lot or loved. Never read his comics though.

I was expecting a lot from this book. And I didn't get it. This book takes place basically telling the story kind of like production journals of him working on "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back". But while he is doing that he goes off on stories about other topics. Don't get me wrong, I typically enjoy that stuff from him a lot. But this book hasn't made me laugh once and I am a tad over 100 pages into it.

I bought this book for my husband who is a huge Kevin Smith fan. If you are a fan, you won't be disappointed. If you are easily offended by language, the occasional potty humor and thinking out of the main stream its probably not the book for you. He is a brilliant writer who can write about everything from being obese to meeting Tom Cruise. It's a good (and quick) read.

Very little useful information contained in this book. You can learn more about the craft from reading her fiction!

Get Stephen King's On Writing instead. Much more practical advice.

Patricia Highsmith is a fine writer of suspense fiction, one of the better ones of the past generation. But, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction has none whatsoever: no intrique, no gueswork at all as to where she is going. Rather, she is only frank, brutally honest, and above all, to her credit, refrains from Lordly preachments as to the craft of writing in this genre. There are no exercises, no checklists, no workbook atmosphere, not the remotest hint of finger waving, teacherly reprimands surrounding this book. ##### I got curiouser and curiouser as I read, wondering when the directional thrust would evolve. It never did. If you're expecting her to tell you to put down the newspaper and turn off the tv, forget it. Instead, she tells you, in effect, if you want to make the world a better place, plant flowers in your front yard. ##### The closest she gets to a heartily advocated position in the entire book is in stressing that you must, firstly, write to please yourself. If you've read all the great works in your genre, and are satisfied with your own when you hold it up to the light of comparison, you're probably knocking out good stuff. It all starts there: your own self-satisfaction. Precious wisdom, indeed. ##### When I open a book on the writing craft I ecxpect a big variety of things. I ask myself, is it going to be another gung-ho, Gen. George S. Patton entreaty, a kick-ass approach to blowing away all obstacles? Is it going to be a back-to-school lesson? Maybe a biting commentary on the plight of the book publishing business. Are all the barriers going to be highlighted, and followed with urgings which subconsciously cause a sense of desperastion, like borrowing last-resort money to save the family farm?. You just never know what the "slant" will be. It could be any one of a number. ##### Highsmith opts for a sort of combination semi-autobiography / musings-on-writing treatise. Inspirational? No. Educational? Not really. A good look at the bell-shaped curve of life from a talented writer's viewpoint? Yes. It's like getting an Insider's look, from the outside. Whatever value you might get from this perspective is for only you to determine.

I found this book enjoyable to read, but not very useful as a practical guide. Written almost like an interview, Highsmith details the writing of her various books and short stories. If you're a fan of hers (as I am), these stories are entertaining since they show the genesis of her ideas and insights into her writing.

However, it is difficult to see how many of her suggestions could be applied outside of the situation where she used them. It was almost as if she provided great anecdotes, but couldn't render general principles that would be useful in varied writing circumstances. If you're a Highsmith fan, you'll really enjoy this small book. If you're looking for general writing advice, another book might serve you better.

A modestly written, terse, readable and nuts and bolts book about how plots come to be put together, how a writer makes a living (or doesn't) and how to tell the story. What I found most charming about this "How-To" book was that it wasn't chirpy, wasn't preachy, didn't have a whiff of unreality arising from its advice, and was eminently practical. The only crime writing manual so far that I have picked up, browsed in, bought, took home and actually finished reading from cover to cover (sometimes doing the reading on a bus, that's how gripping it is). Recommended.

I'm glad I bought this book. As an author of suspense myself, I found it very worthwhile. It won't teach you how to write--but I've found no book can really do that. In the same vein as Stephen Kings book On Writing, it is more an account about how this highly successful author developed her craft over the years, her successes and failures. If you want a how to guide you would be better off with another title. It also enhances the enjoyment of this book if the reader is familiar with Highsmith's books. I found it interesting to know where she got her ideas and how she developed a small incident into a novel.

What a great read!

Although it took me a few chapters to get into the story (it's told in alternating real-time and past-tense chapters), this was one thriller that grabs on and never lets go.

I've read other Gregg Hurwitz titles, but THE CRIME WRITER is the first one that had me reading late into the night just to see what happened next. This is one read that definitely keeps you on your toes, and questions everything you think you know about what has happened or what's going to happen.

Highly recommended -- this one's a winner!

I picked up this book thinking I'd discovered a cool, interesting writer (His predigree is awe-inspiring). How mistaken I was! Education does not make the man, that's for sure! This book is awful! Page upon page of s***. By the time I got to the end of Chapter Two, I knew the book was doomed. The author's turgid, puerile descriptions of LA where laugh-out-loud funny. I believe they were supposed to be insightful and "hip." If you want to read some cool, introspective, meaningful prose, check out the Scandinavian crime noir writers: Arnaldur Indriedhason, Henning Mankell, and Karin Fossum. And there is always the master of LA noir crime fiction: Ross MacDonald. DO NOT waste your time with this sophomoric attempt at "cool" writing.

Gregg Hurwitz is known primarily as a writer of thrillers. So the release of THE CRIME WRITER, which (apparently) is a stand-alone work, comes as a bit of a surprise, though an interesting and, ultimately, a welcome one. It incorporates Hurwitz's trademark elements --- strong and occasionally quirky characters, realistic dialogue and a propelling, compelling story --- with a double-barreled mystery.

THE CRIME WRITER begins with Drew Danner, a mystery author of some renown, awakening in a hospital bed, accused of killing his ex-fiancée and with no idea of whether or not he is guilty. Acquitted by reason of insanity, Danner sets out to methodically reconstruct what occurred on the night of the murder. His investigation has hardly begun, however, before another woman is slain under horrifyingly similar circumstances, with the evidence again pointing to Danner as the perpetrator.

Danner's investigation takes on a new urgency, as it becomes apparent that someone is trying to frame him. He is aided by a group of interesting friends and acquaintances --- an ex-baseball player of some unfortunate notoriety, a quirky editor and a police laboratory technician, among others --- but he keeps running into dead ends, even as he is plagued with self-doubt regarding his own guilt or innocence. The reader is kept guessing, leading up to a number of surprise revelations --- it's almost impossible to figure out all of them in advance of the conclusion --- and a satisfactory, if not wholly unexpected, resolution.

Hurwitz has a fine eye for background detail, and setting THE CRIME WRITER in Los Angeles, his city of residency, gives him the opportunity to provide the reader with some interesting back street triptychs that you won't get from the double-decker tour buses. Hurwitz also merges elements of himself with his protagonist, providing an interesting variation on breaking down the literary equivalent of the fourth wall. His combination of classic crime noir elements --- Los Angeles, multiple suspects, a compelling mystery --- and a unique narrative format and characters make THE CRIME WRITER a must-read.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I am big fan of this authors other series so I was pretty fired up to see he had a new book out. However, if you are looking for a fast, quick fix action thriller (or have a short attention span) then this book is probably not for you. This story unfolds slowly.......but I was drawn into the main character's dilema and the keen observations about human nature. I thought the author's depiction of protagnist Drew's search for the truth was quite thought provoking and there was such a unexpected beauty in the prose, that I found myself re-readiing certain passages. While there are some flaws to be expected it still kept me up late wanting to know how it would turn out, rooting for the main character until the bitter end.

I am glad I didn't read these negative reviews prior to getting the book. It might have dampened my spirits. True, the book has a melancholy narrative; but please, Drew is being charged for murder. He's not sure if he did it, plus a piece of his brain is floating in a jar. I think the book was set up perfectly.

Fantastic book. Fantastic writer.

Growing up the 1970's I was a fan of many of the National League stars, including Mike Schmidt. I was an admirer of his prolific hitting and his hard work at becoming a stellar fielding third baseman.

With this said, this is one of the worst baseball autobiographies that I have ever read. As a matter of fact, this is one of the worst autobiographies of ANYONE that I have ever read. Self-serving and monotonous, this book belongs in the same class as Canseco's steroids tome. Another vapid book about an ex-major leaguer. Don't waste your money - wait until it makes it to your local dollar store.

Mike Schmidt's book is a breezy, lightweight mix of his career and opinions. The first 80 pages cover his career and the remaining 120 pages are his opinions on steroids, the home run explosion, Pete Rose, bats, ballparks, Hall of Fame voting and his failure to land a job managing in the majors.

Schmidt considers 1990-2005 as the Steroid Era. He says he would have been tempted to use steroids, but in the end, he believes he would have resisted the temptation. Schmidt says steroids are the No. 1 problem in major league baseball.

Much of the second half of the book is kind of old news--steroids and Pete Rose, in particularly. For me, the most interesting parts of the second half of the book were Schmidt's seven reasons why he considers Barry Bonds baseball's greatest hitter of all-time, his reasons for saying that the National League should adopt the DH and his observations on the evolution of bats and balls.

There isn't much depth to this book, so it won't take you long to read it. If your expectations aren't too high, it'll be worth your time.

Clearing the Bases is a quick easy read for all baseball fans, and especially so for those of us who remember Schmidt's playing years (he does spend a large percentage of time on the timeline and events of his career). Schmidt's opinions come across as honest and direct, even if mostly unsurprising. Refreshingly, Mike takes the politically incorrect view that if he were playing in the late 80s and 90s, there is a strong possiblity that he would have taken steriods as well. This is an oversimplification however, and his lengthier discussion is certainly worthy of a Hall-of-Fame role model. In the end, he comes out strongly against performance enhancing drugs, but its the route he takes to get there that is refreshing - he speaks as someone who has a far more intimate knowledge of the sport, the pressures, and the costs/benefits than all the rest of us readers who never experienced it. On the flip side, Mike spends a bit too much time on his managerial interests (and at times seems to be using this book as a vehicle to speak to baseball on this topic). That being said however, on balance Clearing the Bases is an interesting look at Mike Schmidt's career and the opinions he has formed as a result of those experiences.

Steroids have been around for 50 years. The Steelers of the 70s were reportedly on 'roids. Schmidt is a competitor, albeit a gentleman competitor. Draw your own conclusions. It's not inconceivable, though the evidence will never come to light, that the superstars of the 60s and 70s, if not the 50s, were juiced. I have not read this book; probably a hagiography.

Mike Schmidt's love and passion for the game really shine through in this well-written and often funny book. Number 20's observations on steroids, the Hall of Fame, the Pete Rose saga and Barry Bonds are thought-provoking, and he does a good job describing how the game has changed since he played it. Clearing the Bases is recommended for any baseball fan, especially those like myself, who enjoyed watching Schmidt on the field back in the days when baseball was at its peak. (And I'll forgive him for all those homers he hit against my Cubs throughout the years, including four in one game at Wrigley in 1976).