Books On Writing – If You’ve Read One You’ve Read Them All!

Before anyone shoots me down, this was an opinion expressed by A.N. Other author.

But it got me thinking. So I took it upon myself to procrastinate, er, research.

After a lot of Googling, browsing and general time-wasting, I’m beginning to find this to be true. One after the other, all these how-to writers were saying the same thing:

Writing is the only way you can learn to, well, write.

Now any writer who’s serious about their craft has read at least ONE book. I myself have read two (yeah, that's how serious I am, LOL). But I know a few unpublished writers who have read several and are thinking of buying or borrowing even more. Now I’m thinking in the beginning things like pacing, pov, GMC and HEA may seem like Greek to the uninitiated, but once you learn these things, when do you draw the line, say enough and use the knowledge you’ve acquired? How many “Most Common Mistakes” books can you read before you learn your “mistake”?

So, what book on writing has changed your (writing) life? How many have you read and many do you intend to read? I’d love to know.

Happy reading and writing.

Maya

I'm A Twihard!!

So a few weeks ago I saw Twilight. Since then, I’ve seen it er...a few more times. I’ve talked about it on a few boards, with my cps and spent an inordinate amount of times on the internet reading about the whole series. Oh yes, I'm also counting the days until New Moon comes out. Even my husband been cajoled into watching it.

See a pattern emerging here?

Yep, it's time to finally admit, I'm Maya and I'm a Twihard. The emotional intensity between Edward and Bella speaks to me a writer and is something I yearn to capture between the pages of my own ms. But aside from that, I was happy to watch a vampire movie without a fang in sight!

I know Ms Meyer has received some stick with regard to the rest of her books not quite living up to the first, but not having read any of them, I can’t comment.

All I can say is, Twilight has risen right up there amongst my top ten must see movies of the last few years and I have a weird feeling, I'll be watching it a few more times before the year's out!

What movies are you addicted to, that you'd watch over and over and over?

Maya

Struggling With Titles

I used to think I was quite good at naming my books. Sometimes I’d even name a book before I started the story. In a way it helped me to picture the way the stories would unfold.

But now...zilch. I have a couple of manuscripts that are almost finished and for the life of me I can't figure out what to call the darn things. I've trawled internet sites, asked friends and family (even contemplated asking perfect strangers), LOL.

Still…zilch. If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know I’m thinking of entering a contest in er...less than TWO WEEKS' time! So far the ms is called 2009 Contest. Catchy, right? I’m slowly sliding into despair.

At this rate, I'll be sending off the manuscript with the title, Sorry, Couldn't Name This One!
So I need your help.

How do you choose your titles? I'd love to steal, I mean, borrow your ideas, LOL!

Happy reading and writing everyone.

Maya

Facebook v Twitter?

Okay, I think it's time to come out and admit...I am not a great fan of Facebook! For some reason, every time I log on, I can't wait to log off again! For me, the endless, join this, friend here, poke that, fun wall this, has become too overwhelming! Plus I think my darling husband is stalking me there, which isn't good! :)

Now Twitter. It's easy, it's painless. Type words in, hit send, THAT'S IT! I especially love the way all links are compressed into a tiny url thingy (see I ain't savvy with techo stuff!). AND, you can tweet with lots of people in a short space of time without being poked, prodded or funwalled! Result!

I'm sure die-hard Facers out there would love to educate me. Feel free to try. I just want the know the easiest way to Facebook without feeling like I'm drowning slowly in quicksand.

In the meantime, I'll be tweeting on www.twitter.com/mayablake. Come follow me!

Maya