I thinking about writing books

[gillman]

There are some excellent points in the other posts. What I would add is that you have to be passionate about your subject. Different people have different rules about the process and the end product. At the end of the day the only question that's important is "Are you happy doing it?"

If you do decide you want to publish your work, steer clear of anybody who wants to charge you money for editing or self-publishing. There are writer's workshops in just about every city willing to welcome and mentor new writers. The hardest part is quietly listening to someone criticize your work and taking it to heart that they're usually doing it to help you improve your writing, not to cut you down.

If you get to the point where you want to publish, I'd suggest Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing - eBooks , attached to the Gutenberg site of out-of-copyright books online. You still retain all rights if you want to pursue commercial publishing and it puts your work out there and protects your own copyright.

[gillman]

As far as reference books for writers, I'd suggest Strunk and White's "Elements of Style", the "Little, Brown Handbook", Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" and Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". Use them as road maps to find your own voice and tell your own story, not as checklists of everything that must be in a book.

And good luck, it's hard work, but worthwhile.

[mchale]

Thanks gillman and every one for your imput i wont be posting models for a while but i will still be on here since most of my time will be be spent on writing