How-To Books

So this weekend, I finished up reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel, by Thomas Monteleone, and purchased Stephen King's On Writing. And then proceeded to read all of On Writing on Sunday evening. 

I heard about Monteleone's book from Mario Acevedo at MileHiCon 2011 - Monteleone was one of Acevedo's instructors, and his book does have a lot of very practical advice, not only on the craft of writing, but on the business of writing (which is just as important, if one plans to make any money from one's prose). Stephen King's book, in turn, was mentioned by Monteleone as another good resource, and was also recommended by a friend of mine who is willing to be one of my early readers (in exchange for me providing a similar service). So far, so good...

I'm finding that reading about the process of writing is fairly interesting, though I suspect I'll have the same problem writing as I do with any other hobby - making time to do it regularly. It's one thing I'm seeing in every interview, blog post, or book on the craft of writing - regular practice and time management are critical in developing one's talent/skill. And time management is not high on my list of skills - it may be time to do something about that.