I have been all charged up about some recent finds I want to share with you.

One is Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid — a book, audiobook and system for marketing and building your business that takes that brave journey away from crass, haranguing, uphill effort and turns it into connecting with what you love and sharing it. That sounds simplistic, but it’s not. His book is packed with information and a powerful approach. These are times when many of us are shifting around our economic models and tracks, and if you are building your own business–including writing-related businesses (such as being a published author!), I cannot recommend this highly enough.

The second find is thanks to author Cornelia Read, and this is a series of blogs on craft written by Alexandra Sokoloff. You can find Sokoloff and the amazing craft blogs at Murderati.com or at thedarksalon.blogspot.com. Scroll down the right margin and you’ll get to a list of “Writing Articles.” She’s trained in theater and screenwriting and writes suspense–all of which contain keys to any writing, even the most poetic literary flights. Her blogs are immensely readable and incredibly clear. They make me want to try things in writing, always a good sign.

Alexandra Sokoloff, in turn, recommended reading The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker (subtitle: And Other Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence). I’m in the middle of it and it is amazing. Besides that it should be required reading for anyone who might encounter violence (which is, as he convinces you quickly, anyone) and especially women (who too often choose not to be rude over listening to their instincts), it’s great reading for anyone interested in understanding human behavior. Everyone, more or less, should fall into that last category, too, but especially writers. That’s what we’re doing alone at the keyboard, no?

This is some of what I am jazzed about right now. What are your latest finds?

 Visit me at http://www.elizabethstark.com