What’s on my bookshelf?

In this week’s blog, I digress from my series on the Seven Deadly Sins of Writing to bring you a snapshot of what’s on my bookshelf. When I decided to become an editor, I joined Editors Canada, Canada’s national editorial association. One of its offshoots, Editors Toronto, publishes the BoldFace blog—a great resource for editors to pick up tips, learn about the business, and (virtually) get to know their fellow editors. I was recently asked to contribute to the What’s on Your Editing Bookshelf? column, in which members of Toronto’s editing community share what’s on their bookshelves and highlight a couple of notable titles. Here is what I wrote for the February installment of the column:

I first read Brian Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English 15 years ago in law school. It is now in its third edition and is every bit as salient. Throughout the book, Garner stresses the importance of writing in a way that is accessible to the reader. To that end, he provides many useful tools and techniques, as well as practical exercises at the end of each chapter. While the book is targeted toward lawyers (who are not exactly known for their economy of words!), it can also help writers and editors of all stripes who want to learn to communicate clearly and effectively. 

Another title with a permanent spot on my bookshelf is Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. This book has garnered a cult following, and for good reason: it provides concrete tools that are as useful in creative endeavours as they are in everyday life. 

Cameron instructs the reader to wake up 30 minutes early each morning and fill three pages with longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing. The content of the pages does not matter—just the act of writing them can yield massive benefits. In my experience, writing my morning pages helps me clear my mind by emptying out all my thoughts onto paper. After I’m done, I can more easily focus on whatever task lies ahead. 

Editing is as much an art as it is a science. As such, it requires the editor to think both logically and creatively. Rules are followed and rules are challenged. The Artist’s Way has enabled me to access the well of creative energy that is needed to do the work of an editor. 

I so enjoyed writing this piece because it forced me to think about the books that matter most to me. I reflected on the books that once mattered to me but no longer do, and those few titles that have retained their significance over the years and decades—those that seem to occupy a permanent place in my psyche.

Certain books typify different “seasons” in my life and invoke a kind of nostalgia, much like music. When I found a beat-up, dog-eared copy of The Great Gatsby (from my tenth-grade English class) in my parents’ armoire, it felt a lot like hearing Alanis Morrissette. (I reacted to the book with much less belting and angst.)

Despite my affection for books, which I expounded in a past blog, I’m not overly sentimental about them; when I’m done with a book, I’ll happily lend it out, donate it, or pop it into a local Little Free Library. But you oughtta know (apologies!) and appreciate the select books that you keep coming back to again and again.

What’s on your bookshelf?

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In praise of minutiae: my foray into miniatures

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The seven deadly sins of writing, part two: pride