3 Best Books on Writing

If you want to be a good writer, study your craft. You wouldn't preform brain surgery without training, don't dishonor your book/story by going in half-assed. Arm yourself with the right tools.

First, get yourself a good grammar book. I personally like Stunk & White. Just the facts here, no window dressing. Grammar is the basics of  writing and just like any other skill you can learn it. Refer to the book with any questions that pop up. Make notes in the book. I use post it notes to flag pages where I know I'm weaker. Every now and then I page through it to reinforce those rules in my mind. After all, if you don't know the rules, how ya gonna break them?

Second, Writing Down the Bones by Annie Lamott. This book will show you some ins and outs of the writing life. It ain't all tea parties and book signings. Writers work. Hard.

Third, will give you some inspiration. Stephen King's On Writing. Find out where he came from an the work he did to get there. From disgusting laundry sheets filled with maggots to how he hit it big. Then he tells you about his own tool box of writing. His writing schedule and his self imposed discipline.

The key to writing your book, finishing your book is found in your daily routine. Prolific writers know this in their heart.

Verbal People

I like verbal people. The ones that speak in pictures. Their general talk paints vivid images as they speak. My cousin is from the south and speaks in pictures. "If dirt were dumb, he'd be a mile." "His mouth just overloaded his butt."
See the dirt? Man standing in the middle of a mile long dirt field? The mouth/butt thing...scary visual, but I'm not sure what it means.
I think this is more common in the south. Jersey girls don't speak in pictures, they speak in staccato bursts. "Do it." "Wassup?" "Yo, bitch."
What do you see? Ummm...nothing.
But I like when people speak in pictures better. Or maybe its because I don't hear it that often and, try as I might, I can't think quick enough to do it on the fly.
My cos also uses "bless his heart" a lot too. Its like a disclaimer. You can say anything and you're cool if you end it with "bless his heart".
Right now I'm listening to an audio book for my 40 min ride to hell...oops...I mean work (bless it's heart). Charlaine Harris, Dead as a Doornail. A Sookie Stackhouse vampire story. I'm not a big vamp reader overall but some of them grab me. I'm also reading Amanda Hocking's 4th book and one of the Lee Child, Reacher stories.
Anyway, Sookie Stackhouse has the verbal/picture/words down pat. I think I love the words more than the story. (Although it is an excellent book---just ask HBO)
Sometimes in writing it comes easier. On a good day the words flow and little sayings actually make it onto the page. But I think to give the picture words the right delivery you have to be specially trained or something.
Do you speak like this? Write?