Hey all, Sam here.
When we reached the end of 2025, oh I had such high hopes for the possibility and potential of 2026. There was something about it that felt so delightful and hopeful….and it only took a few days into the new year to realize that things were just going to continue being atrocious here in the US. I made plans and goals for the plotting and writing I wanted to do, and then quickly got derailed from all of that as the dire nature of surviving in the US sank even deeper into my thoughts and heart.
It is increasingly difficult for me to focus on even attempting to be creative. It has been that way for the past couple of years, originally because of personal/life turmoil, but the past year to year and a half it has been because of the absolute chaotic descent that is life in America. Every day feels more and more like simply struggling to survive, and in survival mode it is so difficult to breathe and relax enough to truly sink into a good story, or especially to sink into a story of my own creation.
I try to hold onto the words of other authors, because many of them are speaking out about how creativity is resistance, and it is most needed in times of turmoil. I’ve even taking to repeating some of the statements over and over like a mantra, trying to bolster myself and hype myself up enough to actually sit at the computer and string words together.
Honestly, even stringing together words to put together these blog posts feels like wading through a pool filled with mud. So I don’t know how consistent or regular my posts will be, but I am going to keep trying…and I’m going to keep hoping that I find my way back to my creativity.
With that being said, there are definitely some writing craft books I want to focus on or revisit.
I do think it might be beneficial for me to re-read a few old favorites among my previous Weekend Writer craft books: Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be A Writer Without Destroying Yourself by Chuck Wendig and Stop Worrying; Start Writing: How to Overcome Fear, Self-Doubt and Procrastination by Sarah Painter. The words in both of those books spoke to me when I read them, but I definitely feel like I need to read them again.
But I also need to put together my list of writing craft books to focus on for my Weekend Writer posts the rest of the year. I’d like to discuss one book each month, at least. There are a few that I have lined up already, but I still need to finish writing the posts.
I do believe that How to Write Romantasy by Jenna Moreci will be the Weekend Writer craft book for February, although I may try and get Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes posted in February as well. It makes so much sense to talk about those in February. When it comes to both The Happy Writer by Marissa Meyer and Structuring Life to Support Creativity by Sandra Tayler, I do believe I shall indulge in a re-read of the books before finishing up their Weekend Writer posts, but perhaps those shall be March and April focuses.
The question is what other writing craft books I shall look into for the rest of the year. Here’s a few I have my eyes on:
Some of these come highly recommended from other authors (both indie and trad). I’ve either seen them talked about on social media, or the authors talked about them during Writers Symposium panels at Gen Con, which meant I definitely added them to my list. I’m certainly going to try to work my way through as many of these as I can, and with any luck I’ll be able to take notes and discuss them here on the blog.
Because when I find that I can’t get the words out, the stories still run through my mind and I visually draft them and edit them and polish them up. It isn’t actually writing, but if it is the only progress I get on my stories for now, then I suppose it is better than nothing. My creativity hasn’t disappeared completely. My imagination still runs wild. The words just might end up stuck in my head for a little while longer, until my body feels it is a little safer to get out.
Until then, I shall continue to study the craft of writing and work on building myself up. It’s all I can do right now.
If you know of any other writing craft books that you think I might find interesting, feel free to let me know in the comments. I’d love to add more to my list.
That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 