I’ll be honest: Each week, I approach this blog with trepidation, because I have two goals to achieve: inform and entertain. The former is relatively easy. But the second, well, the second is the tricky part. How do I write something you’ll want to read?
I’m not alone in this conundrum. Writers of every stripe experience this same trepidation. So, how do you tackle that quandary? Well, for some, it means reading before you write.
If that’s you, you’re in luck. Writing guru Kristine Kathryn Rusch has curated a fantastic StoryBundle called “The Write Stuff Bundle.”
Kris says: “I put together this bundle of writing books with an eye to knowledge. Initially, I called this the ‘craft bundle’ because I thought all of the books were going to be how-to-write books. But most how-to-write books discuss business, and many business books on publishing discuss how to write.
“So instead of focusing strictly on craft, I decided to treat this bundle like a nonfiction writing anthology. The bundle touches on everything you need to write and to have a career in writing.”
Ooh, a nonfiction writing anthology. That gives me an idea… But I digress. Back to the topic at hand, so to speak.
The bundle contains four craft books:
Writing into the Dark: How to Write a Novel without an Outline by Dean Wesley Smith
Break Writer’s Block Now! By Jerrold Mundis
Pitfalls of Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy by Vonda McIntyre
Writing Horses: The Fine Art of Getting It Right by Judith Tarr (about writing fantasy, historical and western fiction)
It contains three books about form:
Playing the Short Game by Douglas Smith (about, you guessed it, a career in short fiction)
The Novel Writer’s Toolkit by Bob Mayer
Making Tracks by J. Daniel Sawyer (about turning your books into podcasts and audiobooks)
There’s a book about business:
Business for Breakfast by Leah Cutter, which divides the writing business into bite-sized portions
And it contains three books about the writing life:
30 Days in the Word Mines by Chuck Wendig
Rejection, Romance & Royalties by Laura Resnick
The Write Attitude by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Plus, as a bonus, the folks at Jutoh (which is the program WMG uses for its epub generation) are offering a 40% off coupon for their product. I can tell you from personal experience that Jutoh is a godsend for successful epub creation.
So, there you have it. No more staring at the computer screen for you wondering how to start writing.
You can find out all the details about the bundle at storybundle.com. But I can tell you this, a mere $15 gets you everything I just mentioned, plus you get the feel-good bonus of knowing you’ve donated to charity (Girls Write Now and Mighty Writers). Hurry though, because this amazing bundle ends the first week in June.
So, why are you still reading my blog? Go on now: Click on over to StoryBundle write now (or I’ll have to make more bad puns!).
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.