Hello, Figgy Pudding!
Annta Claus here with an important message: Books make the best presents. Let's check the list for why...
A book is personal. It's chosen with someone specifically, squarely in mind.
A book has no expiration date.
A book can be used/reused as many times as you want. You can't use
it up.
Each time you read a book, you get a slightly different experience.
You can write in it. (You should write in it!)
Books don't require double-A batteries, USB chargers, adapters, or software updates.
You can listen to a book. You can read it. Both count. (Whatever "count" means.)
You can mail books in the US at the lower USPS "book rate" (AKA Media Mail).*
*Trivia to toss out at the holiday table: In the 1930s, President Roosevelt created that cheaper postal rate as a way to encourage literacy.
Books are a window into another world. I might've seen that on a tote bag in a bookstore somewhere. But I'm going with it.
Reading material will keep you fully booked. (I definitely read that on a tote.)
* * *
Are we on the same page? (These puns are writing themselves; I'm now lounging on the couch eating the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers.)
Here are my picks for books to gift to any writers, creators, marketers on your list. Or maybe even yourself (your-shelf?).
Quick aside: I avoided the obvious picks (the excellent Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, On Writing by Stephen King, The Elements of Style by Strunk & White) in favor of the lesser-known. Some of these I first suggested to you a few years ago; some things need re-gifting, re-celebrating, and always this season... remembering.
1. The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone, Joseph Fasano
What it is: A Mad-Libs for poems. Does that sound... disparaging? A bit of a knock? It's not. This book offers 50 simple, powerful prompts you complete yourself; it sneakily lures your brain into new territory.
Gift it to: Anyone who's been feeling like their creative juices are frozen concentrate. Also good for teens, literary-minded young adults, your parents.
Favorite line: "If there's a story you need to hear that no one has told, become it."
My thoughts: I recently bumped into Joseph Fasano's work on BlueSky, specifically a poem called "For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper." His last few lines are a gut-punch.
If I get nothing else out of BlueSky ever... that poem will be enough.
🦋 Related: Are you on BlueSky, too? Check it out and connect with me there.
2. On Writing (and Writers): A Miscellany of Advice and Opinions, C. S. Lewis
What it is: A recent compilation of writing wisdom from the legendary Clive Staples Lewis, author of the Narnia series. He shines his flashlight into lots of crevices: writing for children, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, humor, B2B white papers (just kidding).
Gift it to: Fans of the Narnia series; creators who could use a dose of inspiration from a master storyteller.
Favorite line: "Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again."
My thoughts: I turned that last line over in my head for a while.
"Nice" as a bar feels a little low, doesn't it? It's a colorless, odorless adjective for things that have no flair. (Side note: The origin of nice is the Latin nescius: "unaware, ignorant." Maybe why I don't like it.)
But the more I thought about it (...walking my dog Augie; picking up lunch; in a meeting... mind drifting back to why a great writer would aspire to merely "nice..."?), I came around.
Writing we love has a kind of melody to it, doesn't it? A rhythm and a pulse and a pattern and the thrum of a human heartbeat that mmmmm... yes. Very niiiiiice. I heard the word differently that time.
3. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee
What it is: First-person essays blending fictional storytelling with the lived experiences of this novelist, poet, professor at Dartmouth College.
Gift it to: Those who aspire to... well, write a novel. It's in the title.
Favorite lines: "You might think that your voice as a writer would emerge naturally, all on its own, with no help whatsoever, but you'd be wrong. What I saw on the page was that the voice is in fact trapped, nervous, lazy. And that it has to be cut free."
My thoughts: A "trapped" voice. Yes! High-five, Alexander Chee! Exactly how it feels.
"Cutting" your way there reminds me of hacking through underbrush to get to a clearing. I wrote about that here.
Developing your voice is about freeing and honing your taste... and learning to trust your instincts with a machete.
4. The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, Adam Moss
What it is: A behind-the-scenes look at how artists work.
Gift it to: Those who love to see how the sausage is made.
My thoughts: My favorite part of this book is how analog tools get cameos. The journal entries, napkins doodles, pencil sketches.
It's a celebration of the
process and the... umm, sausage. But also a celebration of the actual and metaphorical canvasses for creativity: the tools that connect our brain to our hands.
Creativity is a full-body contact sport!
The book doesn't say that... but I believe it to be true.
5. I Must Be Dreaming, Roz Chast
