I don’t remember where I picked up The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb. It’s not a used book, so I bought it at a bookstore somewhere, possibly the nearby Barnes & Noble or at a writing conference.

I started this book sometime in early 2012, I think, and read as far as page 118. I found it to be a great resource in exactly what the title says: the art and craft of storytelling. I also found the author to have a good attitude toward new writers. So many how-to-write books, blogs, and conference presentations seem to be far removed from the newbie. Typically the author or presenter is decades into their career and don’t really relate to the new writer. Nancy Lamb does.

I even took time to track down an e-mail address for her and wrote her an e-mail, thanking her for her book and her attitude. That started a brief e-mail exchange between us, and she was just as helpful in those as she is in the book.

At that point in time I put the book aside, other matters pressing me. In late July I was looking for a writing book to read and picked it up. I had forgotten about it in the more than a year since I put it back on the shelf. It looked like a new book, but I found a little marginalia in the early chapters. So I went to the last chapter and read it to see if it sounded familiar. It sort of did, but the book had none of the usual signs of being read through.

I vaguely remembered Lamb’s name and thought Maybe I exchanged e-mails with her. Sure enough I found them, learned where I was in the book at that time, and decided I would read the rest. Feeling kind of crazy, and having just read the last chapter, I read the chapters one by one from the back to where I had left off before. This worked because the chapters somewhat stand alone. On occasion something was referenced to an earlier chapter, but those were easy to work through.

Lamb has a logical approach to her work. She covers many things that relate to how a story comes together, what its elements are. Her writing is clear and helpful. The best part is she hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be a new author. I like that.

This book is definitely going in my library, and I’ll read it again. I’m sure I”ll get something out of it each time I read it.