Research Writing

From the bestselling author of For the Grace of Joe and How to Fail at Documentary Filmmaking comes a guide that’s part pep talk, part publishing plan and 100% permission slip to be exactly who you are—on the page and in the world.

Your most potent writer's tool is your own mind, Natalie Goldberg says. From there springs the detail and truth that give your written words power and authenticity. Now this best-selling author introduces you to the pleasure of creating vivid memoirs of your own with Old Friend from Far Away.

In Writing Unbound, Tom Newkirk argues that as a teaching profession, we shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to writing. We fail to take advantage of a huge opportunity that is before us. That opportunity is fiction writing.

New York Times best-selling author Richard Miniter is an award-winning investigative journalist whose insights have shed light on many of today¹s most vital issues. With Disinformation he takes the popular media to task for the myths they spread about the War on Terror. Miniter has spoken to high-profile sources, sifted through countless information, and traveled the globe to learn that 22 of the most common beliefs about the War on Terror are nothing more than urban legends.

Forget everything you think you know about writing and get ready to discover a transformational approach for wellbeing, productivity, better relationships and more creative thinking, in just 6 minutes a day.

Compelling characters are what keeps readers turning pages and buying books—from fantasies to mysteries to the great literary novel. But how to do you create characters that feel three-dimensional and real on the page? Counsellor and author Eileen Cook shares common psychological techniques to help you build your characters and take your story to the next level. This book covers understanding your character's backstory and how it impacts their choices in your book by doing a structured counselling interview, personality structure, and the Stages of Change.

Life is magnificent, and it's tough. For writers and other creative people, sometimes it is worse than tough, particularly when we're writing to sell-that's writing in the fast lane. We can lose our way or ourselves, forget who we are and why we are who we are. Limping down an unclear path riddled with obstacles and landmines gets daunting even for the heartiest of writers. We can get muddled and mired and confused-lost-and not even know it...for a time.

While on a research trip in Peru, science journalist Alice Robb became hooked on lucid dreaming - the uncanny phenomenon in which a sleeping person can realize that they're dreaming and even control the dreamed experience. Finding these forays both puzzling and exhilarating, Robb dug deeper into the science of dreams at an extremely opportune moment: just as researchers began to understand why dreams exist. They aren't just random events; they have clear purposes. They help us learn and even overcome psychic trauma.

Does your book bog down in the middle? Do you have pages on which nothing really happens? Do people skip or skim large portions of text? Then you're probably lacking tension. From years of teaching writing, novelist Angela Hunt knows that maintaining tension is one of the most difficult challenges a fiction writer faces. Learn some of the techniques you can use to maintain tension and hook readers so completely that they can't put your book down.

If you're a creative writer interested in a freelance income stream, want to work from home, and need help selling your skills to small business, this inspiring book will get you launched with confidence. Ideal for creative writers, journalists, students and bloggers with great writing skills. Get these gold tips and strategies, and hit the ground running!

It's Monday. Time to hit the pause button on your personality and get ready for the next meeting because, for the next five days, we'll be speaking the language of business. And, from bloated jargon and monotonous memos to syrupy slogans and deadly dull presentations, the official language of business is bull. The second we get to work, we join the masses who trade the wit and warmth of their voices for a corporate stamp of approval and the comfort of conformity.

Spanning 15 years of work, Everywhere I Look is an audiobook full of unexpected moments, sudden shafts of light, piercing intuition, flashes of anger and incidental humour. It takes us from backstage at the ballet to the trial of a woman for the murder of her newborn baby. It moves effortlessly from the significance of moving house to the pleasure of rereading Pride and Prejudice.

Beneath the self-assured and serious faces we wear, every human life is full of longing, guesswork, and confusion—a scramble to do the best we can and make everything up as we go along. In these wide-ranging essays, Jon Mooallem chronicles the beauty of our blundering and the inescapability of our imperfections.

Do you have a manuscript ready but feel overwhelmed by the publishing process? Dream of becoming a published author but don't know where to start? Your journey begins here. This comprehensive guide is your navigator through the world of self-publishing. Whether you're tech-savvy or not, we've broken down every phase into clear, actionable steps.

In this easy-to-follow guide, you'll discover the essential techniques needed to craft believable, memorable characters. We'll debunk common myths about writing compelling, dynamic characters and provide answers to the most-asked questions. This will ensure you avoid making the same mistakes others do - nobody wants a 1-star review, right?

In a collection of original essays, the venerated television journalist, Dan Rather, celebrates our shared values and what matters most in our great country, and shows us what patriotism looks like. Writing about the institutions that sustain us, such as public libraries, public schools, and national parks; the values that have transformed us, such as the struggle for civil rights; and the drive toward science and innovation that has made the US great, Rather brings his experience on the frontlines of the world's biggest stories, and offers listeners a way forward.

Gareth L. Powell would be the first to tell you that he doesn't know everything about being a writer, or about getting published, or about life when your work is in a bookshelf. But his field-guide to publishing, About Writing, is absolutely here to help writers on every stage of their journey. Whether you need a bit of writing inspiration or tips on how to find your voice, are struggling to manage writing alongside a day job, want some no-nonsense advice about working with an agent or a publisher or are all at sea with social media, this updated and expanded guide is a must.

This first audio edition of Poetry in Person: 25 Years of Conversation with America’s Poets (Knopf, 2010), invites listeners into an intimate classroom with eight acclaimed poets. Full of compelling, in-depth conversation about manuscripts and drafts by the poets themselves, plus readings of the finished poems, these historic recordings offer one of the most detailed portraits ever produced of how poems are actually made.

"Water is a vastly powerful force, as is creativity. Once you start writing, your creativity can flow around, over, even through your fear, just as water always finds a way around, over and through any obstacle, given time. Your writing won't flow until you open yourself, even a tiny chink of yourself, to the infinite depths of your own creativity." Use short bursts of free-flow writing as a tool to rediscover the pleasure of the creative moment.

As indie publishing flourishes, many, many myths form around this new booming area of publishing. USA Today best-selling author and major indie blogger Dean Wesley Smith takes a cut at killing some of the myths before they can take root. From the myth that indie writers can't get books into bookstores (they can) to the idea that indie publishing must be easy (it is and it isn't), Dean knocks 10 myths down one after another and might just save you years of wasted time.