by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales

We’ve just returned from BRMCWC 2018. Our minds and hearts are full. If we’re honest, we’re both energized and drained. We can’t wait to work on that writing project, but we walked so many miles up and down the campus that we don’t want to exercise for another month. But … coffee.

We learned a lot, and we’re ready to work, but maybe we can’t remember how to write organically or create that dialogue or what the difference is between a dialogue beat and a dialogue tag. Maybe we want to tell our personal story but aren’t sure where to begin for fear of what may emerge on the page. Or maybe we wanted to freelance for a while in order to build our platform. How do we format that article? Have no fear … a list is here!

I’ve written up a list of my favorite resources – books that I refer to frequently. Hopefully you’ll find some that will inspire you as much as they’ve inspired my writing career.

Writing in General:

• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
• On Writing by Stephen King (Warning: Language)
• On Writing Well by William Zissner
• Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott
• Unleash the Writer Within by Cecil Murphey
• Writing for the Soul by Jerry B. Jenkins

Nonfiction:

• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
• Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir by  William Zissner
• Ghostwriting by Cecil Murphey
• Creative Nonfiction by Phillip Gerard

Fiction:

• Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (has a workbook, too)
• Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donal Maass (I’m a huge fan. Can you tell?)
• Story Trumps Structure by Steven James
• Troubleshooting Your Manuscript by Steven James
• Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell (for you plotters)
• Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell
• Plot versus Character by Jeff Gerke
• The Dance of Character and Plot by DiAnn Mills
• Personality Perspectives by Linda Gilden and Tama Westman
• Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger
• Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress
• Firsts in Fiction by Aaron Gansky
• Write to Be Heard by Aaron Gansky

Children’s:

• You Can Write Children’s Books by Tracey E. Dils
• It’s a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World by Olga Litowinsky

YA:

• Writing and Selling the YA Novel by K.L. Going
• The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl B. Klein
• Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies by Deborah Halverson

Articles:

• The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing
• Articles! Articles! Articles! by Linda Gilden

Screenwriting:

• The Screenwriting Formula by Rob Tobin

References:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
• Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
• Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner
• Polishing the Pugs by Kathy Ide
• The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (There is a whole series of thesauruses by them.)

Social Media/Marketing/Platform:

• Connections by Edie Melson
• Platform by Michael Hyatt

Bonus:

• Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins
• The Art of Work by Jeff Goins

This certainly isn’t a definitive list of resources. There are plenty of books out there about writing. However, these are some I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and gotten a lot out of.

Learning is a lifelong process. As writers, we have plenty of resources available to us in order to improve and master our craft. Don’t be afraid to research and study every aspect of the career you’ve chosen.

What are some of the resources you’ve found helpful in your writing journey? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

Alycia W. Morales has been writing since she was able to hold a pencil and write her ABCs. She’s filled countless journals, written poetry as therapy for her teen angst, shared devotions in hopes of encouraging others in their Christian faith, ghostwritten The Spirit of Hospitality by Larry Stuart, and is currently working on her YA novel, among other things. She’s the editor of several award-winning books as well.

When Alycia isn’t busy writing and editing, she enjoy spending time reading, watching television, and hanging out with her hubby, five teens, and two dogs. She loves crafting, journaling, planning, and … well, all things creative.

Alycia co-authors The Write Editing with Andrea Merrell. She also blogs about creativity at Soulful Ink. And she’s planning to relaunch her personal blog in July 2018 at www.alyciawmorales.com. Her favorite social media outlets are Instagram and Pinterest.