How to Write?

I'm am not going to read any more books on 'How to Write'. They all say the same thing. I learn more about how to write reading than I do wasting the time reading the how to books.

I came to this conclusion after I had read my hundredth sentence contradicting a book I had read previously. Some of the books say you have to struggle for so long and amass hundreds of rejection letters and others say to just write and know the right people. It just all seems like bullshit and doublespeak.

The only really helpful books on writing have been written by authors I actually read and enjoy like Stephen King's book. Most of these books are however not written by authors of the caliber of Stephen King are seem to be written by editors and magazine writers who are looking for a paycheck from Writer's Digest. I dont' know if I can take their advice seriously. They are not the writers I want to become.

I am of the opinion that we all know how to write. If you read regularly, can communicate your ideas in basic correct grammer, then go for it and write. Everything else is just polishing. Yes it is a craft, but we all have the basic tools and we don't necessarily need an instruction manual to put them to use.

So now that I've crossed about 10 books off of my June reading list I'm going to add some fun into the mix. I'm spending a little time researching New Orleans and found a fabulous book at the library by Julia Reed called, The House on First Street. It is amazing so far and I should finish it by this evening and then I'm tempted to read Anthropology of an America Girl by H.T. Hamann (the new edition of the book she has a diferent name) but it looks so long and very heavy on teenage angst. Then I'm going on to a second Dickens book (yes I did finish A Tale of Two Cities) and then hitting up Mansfield Park. So many pages to get through, but those books will be better teachers than any writing program or writing book.