Entry # 183 - "Reading to Write"

Fellow Writers - Florence and Lynada - Oct. 29, 2013

I teach a weekly two-hour journal writing class for a wonderful group of  mature adults who have had rich life experiences that they share as they read and discuss their writing.  Today we talked quite a lot about "Reading to Write Better." So here is a "Book List for Journal Keeping and Creative Nonfiction" that I shared with them today. This is a short list. It's just a taste to get everyone thinking more about their writing by reading, and later writing about their various writing projects. I am reminded of Roy Peter Clark's words, "To sharpen your learning, write about your writing."  And you learn quite a lot from careful reading and then writing about what you are trying to accomplish as a writer.

"Happiness is a well-filled bookcase."  Jan says 10/29/13

Book List for Journal Keeping and Creative Nonfiction

List Compiled by Jan Bowman – October 29, 2013

Tristine Rainer’s Your Life as Story: Discovering the “New Autobiography” &

Writing Memoir as Literature

Lee Gutkind’s  You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction And The Best Creative Nonfiction – (vol. 1-3) – edited by Lee Gutkind

Laura Oliver’s The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones , Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life &

The True Secret of Writing

Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer.

Lisa Dale Norton’s Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir

Jill Dearman’s Bang the Keys: Four Steps to a Lifelong Writing Practice

Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing & Life

William Zinsser’s Writing About Your Life: A Journey into the Past & Inventing the Truth: The Art & Craft of Memoir

Writing Creative Nonfiction: Instruction and Insights from the Teachers of the Associated Writing Programs – edited by Carolyn Forche and Philip Gerard.

In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal  & In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction – edited by Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones. Also: Short Takes: Brief Encounters with Contemporary Nonfiction – edited by Judith Kitchen.

Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction – by Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola.

Phillip Lopate’s  Portrait of My Body – (read “Confessions of a Shusher”  and “The Story of My Father”)

Pat Schneider’s Writing Alone & With Others  & How The Light Gets In: writing as a spiritual practice.

The Writing Life - National Book Award Authors: Essays & Interviews (read Ron Chernow’s “Stubborn Facts & Fickle Realities: Research for Nonfiction). & Any Year of the Best American Essays – published yearly -- with changing editors.

There are many more books that could/should be on this list. Think of this as chocolate. You'll want more - that's for sure.

"Every Writer Needs A Good Cat"  Jan says.  10/29/13

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About Jan Bowman

Jan Bowman’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others. Glimmer Train named a recent story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers. Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, her stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, a Pen/O’Henry award and a recent story was a finalist in the 2013 Phoebe Fiction Contest; another was a 2012 finalist in the “So To Speak” Fiction Contest. She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection. She has nonfiction publications in Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at www.janbowmanwriter.com or

visit blog:  http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com