Book Review: The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner's Manual

I have just finished The Art & Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner's Manual by Victoria Mixon. 

If you are a writer, this must be on your desk.  Must.  Go. Buy it.  Yes, I mean right now!  Hit that Amazon link and get to clickin'! 

The best way I can describe this is that it is like having a tutor right beside you.  Victoria's voice is clear, funny and informative yet personal at the same time;  it's like she's sitting right beside you, reading your mind, anticipating your questions, voicing things you knew you knew and encouraging you onward!  Every time I paused to read some of Victoria's book, I want to highlight, note and then drop it in favor of writing.  And you know, when I finished, I thought, WAIT how am I going to find that one note I made?  Will I have to go back and scan and scan to find it?  But no, because of course, Ms.Mixon thought of everything: there's an index.  Yay! :)

Topics covered: character, dialog, tension, plot, writing moods, and punctuation and grammar (an invaluable resource!)