I’m a person who gets very little enjoyment from eating healthy. I live on a steady diet of caffeine washed down with occasional dives into the candy drawer. I will almost never choose a salad over a bagel, and to this day I have flashbacks from preschool of being forced to eat green beans.
Thankfully, not all facets of my life are as blatantly unhealthy. With 98 percent of my job consisting of writing, I’m dependent on a healthy regiment of structure and style to keep my writing in tiptop shape.
Here are a few of my daily supplements that every writer should have:
AP Style Book: Like the food pyramid, this book provides all the rules to write by. Is it “toward” or “towards”? What is the proper use of a semi-colon? This hand guide offers all the details to keep your writing up to par.
A Red Pen: Dr. Samuel Johnson was a brilliant 18th century author famous for his rough drafts. His would fling his barely completed drafts of the parliamentary debates at the page boy, who would run them to the print shop where they were published and distributed on the streets of London. Without ever reviewing his work before it was published, without having to write a second draft or have an editor review his work, Dr. Johnson wrote brilliantly crafted prose that made him “arguably the most distinguished” author in history.
Dr. Johnson was an anomaly. His first drafts may have been brilliant, but for the rest of us, editing is essential. Never go with a first draft, recognize that spell check won’t catch everything, and always have a red pen ready to rewrite and cross out errors.
Peer Editing: I have a problem where, after investing too much time into a certain piece, I become emotionally attached to a draft and refuse to change it. A second (or third) person reviewing your writing can catch mistakes you overlooked and offer valuable critique and feedback. And, most importantly, they are able to be subjective.
Reading: You’ve heard it before, and it warrants repeating: Reading is the key to great writing. If you don’t read, you will never fully appreciate or achieve quality prose. Here are just a few of my favorites:
I, Claudius: Told from the perspective of the Emperor Claudius, this book follows the beginning the wild characters, devious plots and, more often that not, murders that marked the beginning of the Roman Empire.
Pride & Prejudice: Who doesn’t love a good Jane Austen novel? This is widely regarded as one of the best, and one of the most therapeutic books ever written.
Diary: Written by the author of Fight Club, I have often heard this book described as the novel to make you love reading again. Don’t believe me? Just look at the inside cover.
Me Talk Pretty One Day: If you ever need a laugh or think your family is weird, this is the book for you. It is a series of short stories tracing the author from Raleigh, N.C. to New York, to Paris and back. I carried it around in my purse for two years straight, turning to a page at random whenever I had a moment to spare.
