Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wood AND Embrace Your Weird by Day

GOOD HABITS, BAD HABITS by Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, Wendy Wood is all about “The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.” Wood divides her work into three parts (How We Really Are, The Three Bases of Habit Formation, and Special Cases, Big Opportunities and the World Around Us). She writes in an accessible manner, opening with an anecdote about a cousin trying to lose weight, and then explains some of the obstacles to success, including the idea that “we act out of habit [approximately forty percent of the time] without having to make a decision to do so.” The second part of Wood’s text, which deals with context, repetition and reward, is really quite informative. For example, Wood discusses the decline in smoking in America, noting that knowledge of the dangers and willpower (desire to quit) were often not enough until regulations and environment (e.g., limited advertising, fewer vending machines and more non-smoking areas) became prevalent. However, I think I like best her short “useful story” at the book’s end which is titled “How to Stop Looking at your Phone So Often” – it provides a wonderful application of her ideas and was recently highlighted in The Los Angeles Times’ review of this book. Wood also includes extensive notes, a lengthy bibliography and an index, all of which may interest our Psych student researchers. GOOD HABITS, BAD HABITS received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was named one of “10 books to read in October” by The Washington Post.

EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD by professional actress Felicia Day was actually recommended recently by another member of the Library staff. In this “part guided journal, part workbook” Day encourages her readers to “Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity.”  Early on, she encourages readers to write “I am the greatest thing since Swiss cheese” over and over and to REALLY believe it.  She encourages her readers to let go of self-consciousness by keeping the process of working through the book private – and offers a quick exercise about adjectives and dancing to explain why. I think that Psych classes and advisories will find this book amusing and quirky, but also perceptive and helpful. There could be some really great prompts for journaling and introspection. Potentially, Creative Writers classes could also have fun and learn to “loosen-up” with this text. Day writes humorously and yet offers some serious suggestions to unlock our weird, creative voices, “combining the inventory we already have in our brains in new and interesting ways.” There is an entire chapter called Playtime! And another labeled Quests; as Day says, “What do you have to lose?”

Writing To Persuade by Trish Hall

WRITING TO PERSUADE by Trish Hall, former editor of the New York Times Op-Ed page, explores “How to Bring People Over to Your Side.” In doing so, she shares anecdotes from her career and specific recommendations, especially about building empathy. Noting her desire to pass on what she has learned about writing and editing, Hall says, “be assured that using these methods, which require artistry, technique, and an understanding of human psychology, will increase your odds of success [in persuading someone to see your point of view].” Hall dedicated this work to her teachers and I believe that our teachers and students will benefit from reading this book and the other writing texts she mentions: Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, Zinsser’s On Writing Well, McPhee’s Draft No. 4, and Lamott’s Bird by Bird.  

WRITING TO PERSUADE is meant to be consulted frequently: it includes bolded sub-points and a helpful index. Plus, Hall uses the graphic of a conversation bubble to highlight key points (like lists of publications that liberals or conservatives should read/watch to better understand the other viewpoint). Even a short excerpt like the Preface, which lists and briefly explains Fifteen Principles of Persuasive Writing, will be valuable. One point I wish more students appreciated? “To write well, read omnivorously.” WRITING TO PERSUADE received a starred review from Library Journal.

Best American Magazine Writing and Writing Pictures Books

It feels as though writing and/or journaling could make for a great New Year’s resolution.  Here are a couple of ideas to help with getting started.  Learning the craft of writing (or just being attuned to current events and good writing) means exposing oneself to high quality examples. In fact, we are always looking for short pieces to share with students and this collection (over 500 pages and recently published by Columbia University Press) offers some great ideas: THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2018 edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors.  Articles from Rebecca Traister, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others deal with heavy, critical issues like the #MeToo movement, race relations, international atrocities, maternal mortality, and robotics. 

When reviewing this book, I learned that the Ellie Awards are distributed each year by the American Society of Magazine Editors and they have a searchable database of past winners and finalists. Those chosen for this recent edition were published in a variety of places like the New Yorker, ProPublica, Wired, ESPN, NPR and Smithsonian. Other awards and sources for the “best” journalism pieces of 2018 include lists from Longreads, from Longform, via David Brooks (the Sidneys), and/or the Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism. Plus, The Atlantic journalist Conor Friedersdorf will publish a list of 100 choices later in the new year (here are his recommendations for 2017).

Perhaps your interest tends more towards children’s books; in that case, have a look at WRITING PICTURE BOOKS Revised and Expanded Edition by Ann Whitford Paul who taught about writing picture books for ten years through UCLA.  I love that her first section is titled “Before You Write Your Story: Becoming a Picture Book Scholar” because there are so many fabulous examples in this genre. And she provides insightful comments such as on the number of words versus readers’ ages or on the intended audience which really has two components: parents and children. Of course, Paul’s newest edition also includes sections on the details of developing one’s own book whether she is discussing building the frame, creating compelling characters, plotting, finding an ending, or choosing a title. The exercises included here assume that the reader has a rough draft to revise. Then, she continues to the world of publishing with suggestions for creating a mock-up of the book, submitting a manuscript, and a review of self-publishing considerations. Overall, WRITING PICTURE BOOKS is a helpful, valuable resource.

It is always fun when one of our creative writing, language, or art classes tackles a picture book assignment, too. The students have so many fond memories and learn so much! They can consult works like Molly Bang’s Picture This! or Light the Dark. Paul’s text on WRITING PICTURE BOOKS prompted me to pull out Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books for Publication. Created in a collaboration by Berthe Amoss and Eric Suben more than twenty years ago, it is filled with exercises for aspiring writers. We have also previously suggested other books about writing short stories and some additional journaling resources. Enjoy experimenting with them all and have a Happy, Creative New Year!