Romance Writer's Handbook

Everyone that writes loves to find resources of some kind--and a lot of times that's a book on writing. Anyone that finds and read these books usually has a favorite, too. A lot of people swear by "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. My favorite is "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card (I might have the title a little off, but by God I know where to find it in my library!).

Everyone also has a real favorite. It's that one that you may or may not ever share with anyone, either because you want to hog the glory of the book all to yourself, or you're slightly embarrassed to admit that it is your favorite. Either way, I'm coming clean about it here and now.

Just let me stand up.

*Ahem* Hello, my name's Voss Foster, and I'm in love with "The Romance Writer's Handbook" by Rebecca Vinyard.

You're surprised, right? You should be. Okay, so I have romance threads in everything...every time...almost without fail...but that doesn't mean anything!

In honesty, the reason I love Vinyard's book is the fact that it's not just for romance. It has a bit for everything. From brilliant plotting advice to publishing tips and, yes, romance specific bits--what do you expect, it's a book on how to write romance novels for Christ's sake.

Now, I can't actually post any of her brilliance here for copyright purposes, but I can send you this lovely link to the site she started for romance writer's back when the internet was still run on brontosaurus oil and slave labor. I don't think it's quite as brilliant as "The Romance Writer's Handbook", but then again I don't really think anything is--at least nothing in the writing aid vein of books, articles, websites, and magazines out there.

Okay, I'll share a bit of wisdom I got from it...but just a few words.

"You can fix it."

I agree with the book--writer's need that phrase places across their homes. Painted on murals above their computers. Tattooed on their inner eyelids in glow-in-the-dark ink so they can read it every night before they go to bed. As an emergency fixer to pull out when writing starts to overwhelm.

"You can fix it."

I'll let you discover the rest of this fabulosity on your own--and give you a Purchase Link to get it from Amazon.com. Right now, you can get it for under three bucks a copy, so what's stopping you, really? Not that I have any room to talk...I haven't bought my own copy yet either...bad writer, bad!

Sadly I have to go.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight 'til it be 'morrow."

Peace,
Voss