The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Mortaine:

As an aspiring writer, I'd learned a lot of the advice you put out to Neil Gaiman a long time ago (that doesn't move me further than aspiring yet-- sometimes one has to wait for one's craft to mature). But it's still good advice, and I'm glad to know that things haven't changed *that much* in the 20 years or so that I've been learning (an agent who will take you when you're nobody is still an agent you don't want, for instance).

One of my new rules is: if it's a book on writing and it's not written by someone whose name I instantly recognize, and it's not a market book, then I won't buy it. There are some exceptions to that, like I'll buy it if I'm looking for something to get me started in a new genre (a beginner book), or if it's something that's just to help *me* generate ideas, not tell me what to write or how to write it. And, of course, there are some books on writing that you get just to mock.

Examples: Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Ursula Le Guin all have books about writing. I recognize their names-- they write books that I like to read. Thus, their writing books are on my bookshelves. If Teresa Nielsen Hayden came out with a book about editing or publishing, I would recognize the name from your very insightful blog and buy the book. It would not be Yet Another Book on Publishing any more than King's was Yet Another Book on Writing. It would be Good. And I would know it would be Good before I shelled out my hard-earned-day-job money for it, because it came from a reputable source.

Basically, all I'm saying is, twenty-eight pages of books written by nobody do not measure up to ONE book written by Somebody I Respect. When a writer goes to buy a book on writing, a beginner buys any book and is as likely to end up with yours as they are to end up with 1-280. When an intermediate-level writer goes to buy a book on writing, she knows what she's not looking for, and knows how to avoid the other stuff.

I have to agree with Ulrika on The Little Drummer Boy, which makes me cry (but then, so does the Star Spangled Banner, because I am a Big Sap). This year, I found a great recording, done by the Ultimate Drummer Boy of Them All: Ringo Starr.

Yes. Ringo Starr singing The Little Drummer Boy (and soloing, of course) will make you not cry, but certainly enjoy the song, at least a little bit.

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