Book Review 2024: My Three Favorite Craft Books to Date
Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
My go-to platform for book reviews is Goodreads. It’s there that I can accomplish a few things. First, I set my annual Reading Challenge goal. This year, it’s 85 books; that will likely increase before Q3 is over. Secondly, I can track the exact book and page count I rack up. Thus far, I’ve finished 60 books for a total of 18,457 pages. Finally, and obviously most importantly, I continue to add to my TBR like that list doesn’t already have more books on it than I’ll read in three lifetimes.
To end this month, I’m going to offer craft book reviews of my three favorites to date in 2024. I’m not only a queer romance story coach and developmental editor. I don’t just study the various aspects of the writing and editing craft to bolster my own skills. I’m plain obsessed with filling my knowledge bank on a continual basis. Here are three books I can’t recommend enough for authors, coaches, and editors alike.
Write Naked by Jennifer Probst
While it may be true that I’ve got a finished manuscript under my belt, I don’t look too kindly on it. Today in fact marks one year since I typed The End on it. I ripped it apart a couple months later with a microscopic developmental edit. There were plot holes the size of New York City. Character arcs were nonexistent. I gave up on the dream of publishing. Still, I’ve spent more than half a year since then on business and craft development.
A book review for Writing Naked: A Bestseller’s Secrets to Writing Romance & Navigating the Path to Success is simple. You know why? Because I have that horribly written manuscript under my belt. Firstly, Probst addresses the reality of being an author. We get distracted by the next Shiny Idea when our current manuscript gets too hard to write. How hard it can be to weather the storm of social media while simultaneously building a powerful street team.
The second half is by comparison the portion that gets into the crux of what makes a romance novel just that. She covers in detail what it means to hook the reader from the opening paragraph. She offers tips and tricks to building realistic characters that change based on natural reactions to plot events.
Probst’s book focuses on craft development above everything. Being true to yourself and your story by working to tell the best version possible in the most technically sound way is what will hook your readers and keep them reading. If this book review does anything else for you, I hope it’s that bit of advice you take with you.
Book Review: Steering The Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin
If you couldn’t tell by now, I’m a writer at heart. (Are you living under a boulder? Have you not seen my blog page?) Trying to provide an objective review of Steering the Craft: A 21st-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Craft is nigh impossible. My very business is built on craft development, and that is what Le Guin’s focus centers around.
On the whole, this craft book focuses on understanding the “nuts and bolts” of writing. I’m talking grade-school English class. Le Guin uses her decades of direct authorial experience to break down just some of the following:
- The rhythm and sound of writing
- The impact of punctuation
- The different parts of speech (and how to avoid overuse)
I went into this book thinking I’d be reinforcing the high-level aspects of storytelling I work with as a story coach and developmental editor. On the contrary, the craft development exercises gave me the chance to get back to my copyediting roots.
To put it another way, I made it a point to complete the exercises at the time I came across them. Several led to flash fiction stories published here (like this one). Steering the Craft emphatically reinforces the importance of understanding the basic principles of fiction writing.
Book Review: The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors by Erin Brenner
I try to make time to regularly volunteer as an editing mentor. I’ve only just passed the three-year mark of working for myself. I still remember those early days of trying to figure out just what the hell I’d gotten myself into. My biggest piece of advice is always the same. There is so much more to running a freelance editing business than filing the right paperwork with the state and federal government.
The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors: How to Take Care of Your Business, Your Clients, and Yourself from Start-Up to Sustainability is the resource I wish I’d had three years ago. Erin guides would-be entrepreneurs from the very beginning of their decision-making process. She starts with why you want to become a freelance editor in the first place. She offers concrete evidence, too, of why working for yourself isn’t for everyone.
What I love most about this business craft book is how well-organized each topic is under the overarching headings. Admittedly, the book’s Table of Contents is overwhelming at first sight. As you get deeper into the book itself, though, you realize that each concept builds on the one that preceded it. Brenner truly guides the freelance editor from starting their business to sustaining it beyond those first few years.
It’s terrifying to realize just how much the success of my business relies on the effort I put into it. The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors is the step-by-step process my neurodivergent brain needs to avoid constant overstimulation. If you’re looking for detailed guidance and practical examples, this business craft book is exactly what you need.
Photo by Carles Rabada on Unsplash
To Sum It All Up
I’m a visual and kinetic learner. Hour after hour after hour is spent on developing my craft. I study my craft books in depth. Highlighting passages, tabbing pages, and adding notes in the margins. I then practice my craft, whether that’s with book exercises, flash fiction, or scenes or chapters in my current manuscript. I’m willing to study all aspects of writing and editing that will best help me serve queer romance and queer romantic suspense authors.
In conclusion, I find Goodreads star ratings generally unhelpful. One person’s one-star rating is another person’s five-star one. Instead, my book reviews center around re-readability.
Am I going to reread this book in the future?
The three books I covered in this book review blog entry will all be reread. Multiple times. There are just too many principles to apply to my craft and my business to think I internalized them all in one go. Check them out and see how they can help you reflect on and improve your own craft.
Reflecting On Your Story One Word At A Time!
