I heard (read) someone suggest the other day that books on prayer are easily a way to postpone the actual act of praying.

After wading through a (large) selection of books about writing, I have to say the same thing about them.

I wonder how many of them are just an enjoyable diversion (or attempt) to delay the start of actual writing. In the case of writing though, most reading (on any subject) can be justified as part of the writing process. I don’t know if that can be said for all books on prayer. I’ve never managed to get all the way through one.

Other than Bird by Bird I don’t know of a single writing book I’ve read all the way though either…

I was amazed at the variety (and specification) of the titles when I went to our new Barnes and Noble here in town. I wrote down a half-dozen titles to look-up and compare on Amazon when I got home. There are two main categories these books come in, I understand, and I found myself most drawn to the “inspirational” type, rather than the instructional variety (How to Create Character Dialogue).

Maybe I figure, if I don’t already have ideas, why am I writing at all…?