I was just wondering if anyone might happen to have some suggestions as to which books I should be looking at to improve my writing skills. I have seen the everything series and they look like they are pretty decent, but at the moment I just can't tell for sure. I am interested in writing both fiction and non-fiction as well as business and legal writing as I have been told by my sister that I should be a writer and although I may never take it professionally I think that she is right about me learning how to write better as it will definitely help me in all ares of my life. If anyone has any suggestions, then I would greatly appreciate hearing them.
This isn't going to be the kind of answer you're looking for, but it is true: anything and everything. There are some books about writing that can be useful, but in the end, it's the reading itself, and workshopping what you have written that are the most important.
Read everything (even the back of cereal boxes when there's nothing else available) but, in particular, read within the genre you're interested in. Seeing how others do it teaches you to do it yourself.
My "writing bible" is In a Field of Words and Writer's Inc. But honestly, you can read all the "how to" books out there for writing, you can take the classes and workshops, cover your desk with books from Writer's Market to in Field of Words - its all useless unless you sit down and write. Get your stories and ideas out there, have your family, friends and trusted writers critique your work. Submitt your work, make mistakes and grow.
