Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About sabian30

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Sixty something retired banking software analyst in Little Rock, Arkansas who writes science fiction and fantasy short stories. Has four great kids (one the editor of Cannonball Fodder) and one awesome grandson.

sabian30's Reviews:

“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious.”

Bird by Bird - Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

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Of all the writer self-help books I’ve been reading, this is probably the most personal. Ms. Lamott doesn’t write for fun. For her, writing requires she rip open a vein and expose every jagged nerve ending to get at the “truth” of her writing. Her books, fiction and memoir, are painful and true. She gives practical guidance on how to strip away the non-essential and get to the heart of the matter. The title, Bird by Bird, refers to something her father told her brother […]

Practicing What You Preach

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

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Okay, I said I was only doing writing non-fiction for Cannonball 13, but this epic fantasy is related to learning how to write. I took his 13-hour BYU writing class (on YouTube) and found it very informative. I decided I probably should read one of his books. Turns out Elantris is his first published work, and a good example of his classroom lessons. Elantris is an epic fantasy in every definition of the word. At over 600 pages, it follows the lives of three main […]

Practical Guidance for Novel Writers

Rock Your Writing by Cathy Yardley

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It’s rare I find a book so topical. Recommended by my local NANO (National Novel Writing Month) group, Rock Your Writing is actually a series of four smaller books: Rock Your Plot, Rock Your Revisions, Rock Your Query, and Write Every Day. As I happened to be plotting the third novel in my fantasy trilogy and finishing up the second book in my science fiction trilogy, I had ample guidance from reading each section of the book as I needed it. Ms. Yardley is another […]

Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew

Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin

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For the last ten years, I’ve heard  this book on writing by the grand dame of fantasy and science fiction is the book every writer should have in his or her back pocket; however, I found it disappointing. Perhaps if I’d read this book at the start of my writing journey, I’d have found it much more helpful. Plus, it’s largely a workbook with writing exercises on various elements such as punctuation, sentence length, syntax, and other rules of good writing which a beginning creative […]

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.”

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

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While a lot of writing self-help books are about the basic mechanics and rules of good writing, Mr. Bradbury’s Essays on Creativity are more inspirational. He discusses what he has learned in his fifty years of writing and kindly shares it with us. He doesn’t promote so much as show you the path he’s taken. Of course, since his writing is so stellar, it only makes sense that his How To book would also be well-written and interesting. While he doesn’t make checklists, I do, […]

Nothing Slow About It

The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo

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THE ART OF SLOW WRITING – Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity by Louise DeSalvo Of all the writing self-help books I’ve ingested recently, this one is probably the most helpful but the most badly named. It’s not about writing slowly at all. It’s about the tools a writer should be familiar with and possibly use to improve their craft. Nowhere does slowness enter into it unless it’s during the editing process at the end. I appreciate these writing books where the author is trying […]



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