Today we have a guest post from Cheryl Swope! She kindly sent me this guest post back when I preparing for vacation, fearful I’d run low on post and you might notice. 🙂 That time has come and gone—with no noticeable break! Woo hoo! So now we can read her article, Resources to Help & Encourage Writers, and discuss it if anyone wishes. Thanks again, Cheryl!
Resources to Help & Encourage Writers
Writing is the solitary pursuit that, ironically, connects us deeply as human beings.
Whether you are an avid blogger, published author, or writer in your own quiet journal, where do you prefer to write? How do you find the time? Is “life” a handmaiden to writing, or a devious interruption? A few months ago, beloved Lutheran fiction author Katie Schuermann and I discussed answers to these questions in her podcast. We invite you to listen here.
Before I ever submitted my first manuscript, I read many books on writing. And, because I homeschooled twins at the same time, I read books on how to find time for writing! We could not cover all of my most dog-eared books on writing in the podcast, so you will find these titles here. (Caveat: Some approach writing and life from varying worldviews. Even so, I found all of these helpful.)
- A Writer’s Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write, by Eric Maisel, Ph.D.
- Time to Write: More than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing into Your Busy Life, by Kelly L. Stone
- Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, by Christina Katz
- The Productive Writer: Tips & Tools to Help You Write More, Stress Less and Create Success. Cohen, 2010.
- To dig even more deeply: The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers, by Betsy Lerner.
- For non-fiction writers: Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction – and Get It Published, by Susan Rabiner & Alfred Fortunato.
- To brush up on writing rules or to practice stylistic options, see the timeless writing guide, The Elements of Style, co-written by E.B. White, author of our family’s favorites, Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan. This book also makes a good primer for teens.
To teach writing to young people, consider these teaching resources. For teaching writing to children with special needs, see this award-winning series linked to literature and also to CPH Bible stories. The next writing book in this series accompanies The Story Bible (CPH) and released this Summer here!
Everyone has a story to tell, and everyone can learn to write more effectively!
Reading maketh a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing an exact man. – Sir Francis Bacon
Cheryl Swope, M.Ed., serves as the Special Needs Consultant and Simply Classical Curriculum writer for Memoria Press, lifetime member of the Board of Directors for the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education, is co-author of Eternal Treasures: Teaching Your Child at Home (LCMS), and author of Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for Any Child (Memoria Press).
Let this also remind us that can do our own best to help & encourage writers, too! 🙂 There is always prayer.
