IWSG & Favorite Guides

Happy IWSG Day! We’re together again for another blog hop. Sharing writing woes, highs and epiphanies. Bringing us together goes to ninja extraordinaire Alex Cavanaugh.

The awesome co-hosts for the July 7th posting of the IWSG are: PK Hrezo, Cathrina Constantine, PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, and Sandra Cox!

Interested in joining us? Click on the badge above. Our Twitter hashtag and handle are #IWSG and @TheIWSG.

So what’s going on with me this month?

Well, this is the final month of my blogging break. After August, I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule. Although I’m thinking of continuing to post once a month every IWSG Day from now on. Especially as NaNoWriMo 2021 will soon be upon me. And would like to get most of my edits out of the way before I preplot book 2. Then of course I’m counting down the days -cough,19, cough- until school starts.

August 4 question – What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?

I have three favorite writing craft books that I keep beside me. My number one favorite, and I have already written a blog post about it, is The Emotions Thesaurus. It’s written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. It helps me to cut down on overusing cliches and words. As well as deepening my novel by not over relying on dialogue. By also using body language to tell the story. Love the thesaurus that I’d bought two more books from the collection. The Occupation Thesaurus and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus. Now I have five more to go before I own them all.

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Another favorite is the Master Lists for Writers by Bryn Donovan. It’s similar to the The Emotions thesaurus as it’s another thesaurus. But it covers everything. Not quite sure how to describe a character’s eyes. It has a list of eye descriptions. Looking for different ways to describe a negative emotion. Besides using forehead furrowed. There’s a listing of varying body languages to describe anger, anxiety, sadness, etc. The book lives up to its title as it’s  a master list covering emotions, traits, settings, plots and more.

Last but not least, Write Your Novel From the Middle by James Scott Bell. This is a favorite because when I first found it I thought where have you been all my life. I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo for years. It took me a while to realize that one of the reasons I didn’t make goal was because I faltered in the middle. When I figured that out, I always start writing from the middle. It helps me to flexibly change and further deepen my character(s) and theme(s) from my pre-plotting.

All in all, these books help me to better craft the story on paper. And getting it as close as possible as it appears within my imagination.

Credit image: Pixabay.com

What’s going on with you this month? Will you take part and already know what novel you’re writing for this year’s NaNoWriMo? Are you ready or have any worries about your children going back to school? What is your favorite writing craft book and why?