Here are a pair of books for journal keepers and other creative writers that I think will prove especially useful. I use both, constantly these days. Both of them are in a style that might be described as "books written along side books". In other words, you have more than one useful chain of thought to prompt you in your creations.

The Describer's Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms and Literary Quotations by David Grambs

If The Describer's Dictionary were only a dictionary, I don't think it would be a very special book at all. David Grambs has accumulated some excellent word lists in this "reverse dictionary" (he is also the editor of Bernstein's Reverse Dictionary, 2nd edition) -- currently out of print) and I've dog-eared my copy using them. Sometimes the words may be a little too erudite and technical for the average writer to use except as an occasional gem: How many of you are excited and informed by the word scaroid for example? (It refers to creatures that are "parrot-fish like".) Other sections are dedicated to colors, shapes, species adjectives, walks, eye color, and other aspects of the physical world. Useful to me is a brief, if incomplete, summary of modern architectural styles. But this alone does not make for a versatile work.

What distinguishes this work is it's double format. Opposite each page of word lists are quotations drawn from literary sources that pertain directly to the word list. Grambs shows you ways not to be trapped by the adjectives he lists on the facing page. He gives you a sense of the broader possibilities for description and reminds you that your job is to create your own image, not just present a technical description. I've dog-eared my copy of this as I've used it as a prompt for my personal writing projects.

A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life
by Judy Reeves

I don't think I would have discovered the other great books of prompts if I hadn't flipped through a Cal State Fullerton extension course catalog and taken the "Fictionalizing Real Life" course given by San Diego author Judy Reeves. The book is pretty much like Judy is in real life: it sends you off many different paths in search of your true writing self with quick takes and deep inner searches. The crudest description of this book is that it is a calendar, a list of "meditations" you can pursue in your writing each day. Today (June 24), for example, Judy suggests the subject "This is what you can see by starlight". She readily admits that any half-way dedicated student of writing can do the same thing and while I have found her prompts useful, this isn't why I recommend this book.

Though this book calls itself a "book of days", the subtitle tells more of the truth. Judy has assembled a wondrous clutter of articles, topic lists, quotations, and writing trivia. In this month's chapter, for example, she gives examples of how various writers have used dreams to drive their work, how we can turn on and turn off "the muse", how you can tell if your writing is improving, what you might write about on the road, and a guaranteed, writer's block-busting tip for getting out all the details before you even think about inviting your inner editor to reshape the material.

A good sign of a book for writers is that you want to carry it everywhere you go. I haven't owned A Writer's Book of Days as long as I have owned The Describer's Dictionary, but the two books are becoming pretty much alike in that both are stained, muddied, and dog-eared. Both Grambs and Reeves will undoubtably be happy when the pages of their books begin to fall out (the binding for both is excellent) because the first thing I will do is get online and buy new copies. If you write, you should, too.