What's In Store Getting On Track in the New Year

by Joy Dickinson Tipping

With the holidays over, it's time once again to -- oh, let's not call it "making resolutions"; that just sets everyone up for defeat. Let's call it, "trying to do better with what we have." These three books are chock-full of tips and information to get your brain inspired and your pen moving -- while simultaneously helping you remain sane -- in 2008.

Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer's Block. Period., by Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D. Adams Media, 2006, 272 pp., $12.95.

Karen Peterson is a writer, instructor and psychologist specializing in the treatment of writer's block and procrastination. In other words, she has felt our pain, and this quick read of a gem explains her "bi-vocal" approach to conquering writer's block. Her theory is simple: that creativity, in its highest form, requires that both sides of the brain be working in concert, as opposed to the general assumption that the right brain is the creative side. Getting past procrastination, she says, requires making peace between the "just do it" tendencies of the logical, adult-like left brain and the "just say no" tendencies of the more emotional, child-like right brain. Her suggestions range from the seemingly simple, as in honoring your gut instincts (if you like bright colors, don't set up a drab, grim writing area; if you're most productive at midnight, don't expect to emulate those annoying writers who create winning prose at 7 a.m.) to figuring out which of the "triptych" of writer's block you actually have: task-related, biochemical or person-related. For those who're struggling with procrastination, Peterson offers not only hope but practical take-charge ideas for slaying the writer's block dragon once and for all.

Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writer's Guide From the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call. Plume, 2007, 317 pp., $15.

In nearly 100 short essays, this book offers an unbelievable wealth of excellent advice and information, from 51 contributors such as Tom Wolfe, David Halberstam, Susan Orlean, Tracy Kidder, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc and Gay Talese. It's like attending a "who's who" conference on nonfiction writing, all for the price of a trade paperback. The book is helpfully divided into categories; you don't have to read the whole thing (although you'll be a better writer, guaranteed, if you do). Categories include finding topics, settling on your sub-genre, structure, building quality into your work, ethics, editing, narrative in news and building a career in magazines and books. The best part of the book are the tidbits of insight dispersed by pros who have had decades of experience to figure out what makes them so good at their jobs. Gay Talese talks about his decision to spend more time "with people who were not necessarily newsworthy . . . that the role of the nonfiction writer should be with private people whose lives represent a larger significance." Katherine Boo reveals that she finds her stories "because I never learned to drive. . . . I take the bus. I walk around. By being out there -- not the driver of my story but the literal and figurative rider -- I have the opportunity to see things that I would never otherwise see." S. Mitra Kalita offers the startling -- but obvious on contemplation -- observation from her colleague Mirta Ojito at The New York Times, that "the more you know, the less they tell you." This is a book you'll speed through and quote to your friends, read over and over, and find new insights on each pass through.

265 Troubleshooting Strategies for Writing Nonfiction, by Barbara Fine Clouse. McGraw-Hill, 2005, 178 pp., $14.95.

This is another short, quick read that belongs on every nonfiction writer's keeper shelf. Clouse's engaging, affable style is one of this book's strong points. If you can't call up a really smart writer friend for coffee, this book is the next best thing. She starts by laying waste to all those writer myths that drive us nuts: that writers are "born," that good writers write fast, that inspiration will eventually "strike," that longer is better. Some of her information may seem basic to experienced writers, but it's knowledge of which it never hurts to be reminded. She has a great method for breaking down big projects into phases -- pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing -- that make even mammoth undertakings seem manageable. Clouse also gives great advice on organizing projects and polishing self-editing skills.

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Joy Dickinson Tipping is the author of Haunted City, a guide to New Orleans for Anne Rice fans, and Scarlett Slept Here: A Book Lover's Guide to the South, as well as more than 1,000 newspaper and magazine articles. She lives in Dallas, Texas.