A writer who doesn’t know them is like a carpenter who doesn’t know a hammer from a screwdriver. You can’t say what’s wrong or right in a sentence without the words to describe it. Yet these are the names of the writer’s tools. Words such as subject, predicate, object, or adjective and adverb, or past tense and past perfect tense, are half-understood or wholly unfamiliar to many. Some exercises have been improved or replaced, many topics deleted, added, or rethought.Įvery year our schools teach less of an essential and once common knowledge, the technical language of speech and writing, the vocabulary of grammar. This is a complete revision of the book, updated and rewritten. Steering the Craft was published in 1998. “Forced to weigh your words,” she writes, “you find out which are the Styrofoam and which are the heavy gold.” A succinct, clear, and encouraging companion for aspiring writers. The book’s title emphasizes the author’s belief that writing is essentially a craft that can be learned, practiced, and improved through attention and self-discipline. This book is a star by which to set one’s course.

But some issues remain constant, and Le Guin explores them in a familiar, breezy style that is admirably direct, and as entertaining as it is enlightening. . . . Originally written in 1998 and based on Le Guin’s workshop of the same name, the book has been revised by her based on reader feedback and on the vast changes that have occurred in publishing over the years. Site Map Opening Map Offsite Links ArchivesĪ Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story Publicity Photos Calendar Agents Getting in Touch FAQ Biography Bibliography Awards & Honors Reviews of UKL Books Interviews with UKL Arwen Curry In Spanish Photo Albumīlog Flying Squirrels Selected Work Onsite Works in Print Works in Electronic Form Book View Café eBooks Google (Un)Settlement Book Information Pages About Writing About Films Book Reviews by UKL Speeches Audio - Video - Music Maps & Illustrations Notes & Comments Neat Stuff

Steering the craft by ursula k le guin