Rules for Writers - By Diane Hacker

I picked this book at a local dollar bookstore, Big Apple Books. I wasn't really sure if I would end up just tossing it in a pile at home or not but I know that I am one of those writers who needs a few in depth refreshers on the English language when it comes to the thorough rules of grammar.

Though I passed my English Honors classes with flying colors, I wasn't really learning for forever. I was learning for a week; memorizing until the test, then learning something new. Not intentionally, of course, but that's the way most American Public schools are set up.

Back to the book. I am literally on the first page, Preface for Instructors and already I like the writer.

Most importantly is what Ms Hacker states about revision:

Writing is a process, I tell my students, and revision is central to that process. Revision is not a punishment for failing to get things right the first time. Nor is it a perfunctory clean-up exercise. It occurs right on the pages of a rough draft, often messily, with cross-outs and insertions, and it requires an active mind: a mind willing to look at a draft from the point of view of the reader, to spot problems and to choose solutions.

It's the voice, I believe, of someone used to soothing the nerves of panicky students. And that's what I am, a student of writing.

I have several finished novels and screenplays. I have not revised them as I have feared revision. Even with other people's help I just feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

I am desperately hoping that this book can help me.

Already this paragraph has calmed me quite a bit.

And by the way, still working on my NaNoWriMo novel! Very behind but catching up in the next two days is a priority.

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