When it Clicks

I'm one of those people who find it difficult to hate a book.  Even the books I struggled to get through have some great qualities or I wouldn't have bothered to struggle.  Exception to this is Dune.  Apologies to Frank Herbert and fans of the novel but I just can't do it.  I've tried, oh how I've tried.  It nearly kills me that I've left a book unfinished. 

  

Favorite books - now that's a different story.  I have lots of favorite books and I still get tingles when I find others who love certain books as much as I do.  The knowledge that someone finds a book as thrilling as I do creates an instant bond for me, a thread of commonality that we can fall back on even when we disagree on other things.

I've recently read two books, both non-fiction, and both considered guides to help writers.  (FTC statement:  All books listed or implied have been purchased by me - I'm too possessive to borrow.)  

I call these two books, my clickers.

The first one clicked for me when I was editing a short story.  This gem of a book is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.  I have a couple other self-editing books on my shelf and they are great resources.  This book resonated.  As I read through the chapters, I would bolt straight up if I was lounging, or furiously scribble a note down if I was highlighting.  I've yet to hear if my short story passes muster out in the real world but I'm certain this book helped give it a better chance.

The second book I've had sitting as a sample on my Kindle for months.  I've watched recommendation after recommendation go by.  Yesterday, as I was waiting for my darling girl child to settle for a nap, I downloaded the full book and opened my notepad.  I was 65% of the way through before realizing I hadn't jotted one note and I wouldn't need to.  This book is On Writing by Stephen King.  This book isn't going to tell you how to be a better writer.  There aren't bullet points to commit to memory.  What happened was encouragement.  Even through the very brief sections on the "rules", which King defers to Strunk & White quite a bit, the vibe I got was perseverance. 

Today, I smile.  And I write.

                                                                          ~~~~

Things that distracted me on the internet:

~  Some great blogs being updated this morning and my feed reader is exploding in new posts.  It's been hard getting mine done :)

~  Oh how I adore Crayola crayons and their list of colors from inception to now.  For when brown as a descriptor just doesn't cut it.  Personal favorite:  Lapis Lazuli from the 1994 Gem Tones collection.  Will figure out a way to use it.

Non-internet distractions:

~  Reading!  When I needed a break, I created my characters in Darkspell as Sims in Sims 3: World Adventures.  I was amused.

Accomplishments:

~  Almost 1100 fresh words on Darkspell.  Still trying to hit 1500 a day new but finding it hard to get anywhere near NaNo pace.  My family only puts up with no clean laundry for so long.