Yesterday I met with the Murphy Writer's Group to talk about my journey as a writer, my experience with indie publishing, and my process.

What a joy to spend time with like-minded people who love talking about point of view and plot!

It's nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), and one of the writers is going to participate for the first time. I've never done that. In preparing for the talk, I realized that over an 18-year period I've written at least 12 novels. It's hard to identify an exact count because I've rewritten a few so drastically that you might "count" them as new novels. Some of these early books have been terrible and will never see the light of day.

Getting started or staying committed to writing hasn't been a problem for me.

But writing can be a lonely business. Non-writing people don't always understand the compulsion or the passion. Writers can also be a peculiar bunch. We like grammar and the beautiful turn of a phrase. Or at least I do. Going to a writer's group like Murphy reminds me that there are others right here in town who are like me.

I shared a resource list with them of some of my favorite books on craft or that inspire.

Writing Craft

Bickham, Jack – “Scene and Structure”, “Setting”, and “Writing Novels That Sell”

Browne, Renni and King, Dave – “Self-Editing for Fiction Writers”

Frey, James – “How to Write a Damn Good Novel”

King, Stephen – “On Writing”

Kress, Nancy – “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings”

Lukeman, Noah – “The First Five Pages,” “The Plot Thickens,” and “A Dash of Style”

Maas, Donald – “The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface”

Maas, Donald – “Writing the Breakout Novel”

Schmidt, Victoria – “45 Master Characters”

Scott Card, Orson – “Characters and Viewpoint”

Stein, Sol – “How to Grow a Novel”

Wood, Monica – “Description”

Writing Motivation

Cameron, Julia – “The Artist’s Way”

Keys, Ralph – “The Courage to Write” and “The Writer’s Book of Hope”

Lamott, Anne – “Bird by Bird”

“Writers [on Writing]” - Collected Essays from NY Times

Conrad & Schultz – “Snoopy’s Guide to the Writer’s Life”

Snoopy has much to say about the writing life. :)

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.