I'm Reading A Book

About writing a book.

The title is "Telling True Stories", an anthology of original contributions from many of today's leading journalists and non-fiction writers. I'm not even a quarter of the way through and know this might be THE best book about writing non-fiction.

My decision to read about writing began last year with this post. Marilee and I were talking again about the subject the other night; she said she'd ask her Mom for ideas, since her Mom was a teacher in an earlier life. Maybe that's why I seemed to like her Mom, since I came from a family of teachers - my Dad was a high school teacher (and Principal) as was my Aunt Shirley and several others that escape me just now.

Marilee also suggested I check out what classes might be available from SLCC, though I already knew one class that was a good starting point: Humanities. At that point, I showed her a keyword search I'd used on the TiVo last year. There were a couple upcoming shows on the humanities, so we set them to record.

One such show was to be on KUEN, titled "Humanities Through the Arts"; I watched it Saturday afternoon while Marilee was at work. I intended on watching the whole episode, but stopped about five minutes in - I had seen the phrase I was missing in trying to find books on my own about writing.

That phrase is "Narrative Non-Fiction." With that phrase in hand, off I went to a book store - specifically, the Barnes and Noble in Sugarhouse. I like the way that particular store is laid out and figured that was the best place to find what I was looking for.

And I wasn't disappointed.

I found three books that are getting me started on my narrative journey. The above-named book about telling stories is the one I'm reading now.

A second book by Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King) titled "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" I started reading first in the book store, but stopped at the Foreword; he said in one short sentence that "...every aspiring writer should read 'The Elements of Style' by Strunk and White."

So I picked up a copy of that as well. I'll save the King novel for later.

Thus begins anew my desire - no, need - to write. I've an idea for a book but don't want to let on - yet - what the subject is. Mayhaps you'll just have to wait to see it on the best-seller list.