I like books that help people understand themselves, their growth and their development. Psychology and self-help books are the best in that regard.
I suppose my interest came from liking Psychology 101 in college which I then followed up with more advanced classes on personal development across the lifespan.
So where am I seeing books like that today?
A wonderful one I found was Grit by Angela Duckworth: link. She argues we are led to believe that achievement comes through talent. But her claim is that hard work and discipline matters more. Nora Roberts, the romance writer, once described it as “putting the butt in the chair.”
That is exactly what Duckworth is arguing. We need to put in the work in order to achieve. The hours of practice spur the determination in our will to succeed above and beyond whatever talents we might have. That is certainly required of writers, because it’s a profession where they each work alone, slogging away for hours at an end towards an end result, a finished product to be proud of.
As for the other book I like, I thoroughly enjoy the explanations the Meyers Briggs (MBTI) personality assessments make of our individual types. There is a great book that talks about how personality traits can be useful in career satisfaction: link. I bought the book in paperback years ago. I liked it so much I bought it again in e-book format, just so that I can always refer to it on my e-reader whenever I feel like it.
With respect to romance reading, I read Maggie Blackbird, Redeemed: link.
There is good news on the writing front! One manuscript is with the copy editor. Another is with the proofreader.
Copyright Barbara James. All rights reserved.
Barbara James 