What? Something other than word count?

It recently occurred to me that I could use this blog as something other than a word-count journal (besides, I have my little mini-notebook where I keep the numbers). What a concept, huh?

I just want to share my enthusiasm for the book Stein on Writing. The town I live in doesn't have a major bookstore (the most reasonable imposter is Kmart...ugh), so I order most of my books off the internet, used. I've heard so many great things about this book; I was so excited to see Sol Stein's book in my mailbox today. I couldn't make the small walk back to the apartment before getting it out of the envelope. A plus: the copy is in great condition. I've been lucky with used books lately.

Now that I'm actually in the process of writing a book, things click so much more and this is the perfect time to be reading Stein on Writing. While it's daunting to think of all the aspects of my finished WIP that will need work, it's mostly incredibly exciting. Scene structure, characterization, conflict, and maintaining suspense are all covered.

This book is highly recommended for any aspiring novelist! While many books about writing will tell you what you need and give maybe one example, Stein gives you more. (Doesn't this sound like an ad? sorry...) An amusing note: It appears that in this 5th printing (if I'm understanding those numbers correctly) has this error on one of the last pages: "...for reader's crave such action..." It almost makes me wonder if he did it on purpose just to imagine the joy of some unpublished writer like me spotting it and twittering. He does make a point of showing how many of the best-selling and acclaimed authors write weak prose at times.

I'm finding that inspiration for writing (not the ideas, but the actual writing) is something that I need to search for continually; it's not something I can wait on. This book is my current inspiration.