All I Want for Christmas Is . . .

Books, books, and more books.

Here are some books that make good Christmas presents for writers. Most are craft books. Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life provides encouragement, A Moveable Feast gives us a glimpse into the life of an American writer living in Paris in the 1920s, and Book Proposals That Sell is the best guide to writing non-fiction book proposals that I have found (and I've read a few). The publication dates are from the editions in my own library, so they may not be the most recent versions.

• Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life, edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz (Writer's Digest Books, 2002)
• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose (Harper Perennial, 2007)
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Anchor Books, 1994)
• Ernest Hemingway on Writing, edited by Larry W. Phillips (Scribner, 2004)
• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 2003)
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (Shambhala, 1986)
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser (Quill, 2001)
• How Fiction Works by Oakley Hall (Story Press, 2003)
• Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (St. Martin's Griffin, 1995)
• Writing for Story by Jon Franklin (Plume, 1994)
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (Pocket Books, 2001)
• Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing by David Morrell (Writer's Digest Books, 2003)
• Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books, 2004)
• Dialogue by Gloria Kempton (Writer's Digest Books, 2004)
• Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress (Writer's Digest Books, 2005)
• Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle (Writer's Digest Books, 2005)
• Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books, 2008)
• Book Proposals That Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success by W. Terry Whalin (Write Now Publications, 2005)

There are many other good writing books out there, so comment on this post to add your favorites to the list.

Kathryn Page Camp