Reading Report: August 2025
Hello subscribers! This is something of an experiment. I wanted to try
Steering the Craft - Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin is a modern master and it shows in her clear and concise explanations. Just tear out the last chapter and you’ll be fine.
Tool: Thought-Time
Thought-time is the sum of the mental energy put into a piece of artwork. Along with craft-time and distance-time it helps determine the "value" of the work.
Rest like you mean it
We interrupt this program to remind you to rest.
Tool: Put Events in Time Order
What is the actual order of the events, as the point of view character witnesses them?
Tool: Extreme Specificity
What specifically happened in that particular time when light fell through those particular leaves.
Books for Beginning and Beginning Again
Four books for getting started or getting back to basics.
About Writing - Samuel Delany
Filled with writing gems that defy being prised from their substrate, Delany's essays and interviews will reassure new writers and challenge old hands.
Notes on Vocation
Webster defines of vocation as “a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action” or as “the work in which a person is employed. Occupation.” Murikami wrote about the second but what I wanted to hear about was the first – the calling to write.
Voice - James Scott Bell
A straightforward method based in acting techniques for distinguishing the voice of your writing with actionable steps and lots of examples.
Tool: Movement and Flow
Professional writers will tell you that they find exercise helpful, not just in counteracting the sedentary lifestyle, but in finding the "Flow" state most useful for writing.
The Way of the Fearless Writer - Beth Kempton
A refreshingly gentle take at how to structure a writing practice for those who are beating themselves up for not writing and those working up the courage to share their writing with others.