Begin sentences with subjects and verbs, is the first tool in Roy Peter Clark’s Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Own the tools of your craft, the last. Pithy, entertaining, and always straight-to-the-point, Writing Tools sandwiches 48 more useful tools in-between, on Nuts and Bolts (words and sentences) Special Effects (tricks of the trade), Blueprints (organizational strategies), and Useful Habits for successful writers. Informed by Clark’s thirty years as a teacher, writer, and journalist, every tool bears the stamp of his experience and lighthearted wisdom-from the usefulness of the suggestions (Tool 14: Get the name of the dog ) to the clarity of the prose itself.

As fun to read as it is hands-on practical, it can be enjoyed straight-through or used as a reference as students draft, revise, and edit. Spiral-bound, the College Edition lays flat as students work at the computer, and at $16.95 suggested retail (after bookstore mark-up), Writing Tools is considerably less expensive than traditional writing textbooks. With over 30,000 copies sold to the mass-market, the College Edition is the perfect book to accompany a more comprehensive textbook, or for classrooms that don’t use a traditional text at all.