Drama, comedy or something in between? If you want to get your act(s) together, check out these books on playwriting:

I Ain't Sorry for Nothin' I Done: August Wilson's Process of Playwriting by Joan Herrington

Naked Playwriting: The Art, The Craft, And The Life Laid Bare by William Missouri Downs and Robin U. Russin

The Elements of Playwriting by Louis E. Catron

Playwriting In Process: Thinking and Working Theatrically by Michael Wright

Playwriting: The Structure of Action, Revised and Expanded Edition by Sam Smiley and Norman Bert

Indiana University professor and communications consultant Dr. Ken Davis authors a terrific website called Manage Your Writing. On it, he lists these ground-breaking books about communications for business:

What to Say to Get What You Want

On Communicating

Leading Out Loud: Inspiring Change Through Authentic Communications

Information Anxiety 2

The Brand You 50

Prizewinning poet Hal Sirowitz, who we interview in this week's "Word Count" feature, recommends these books of poetry and teaching poetry:

"For new haiku enthusiasts, read Basho and Issa. After you read them you'll understand why they only had one name. Michelangelo only needed one name, too. Need I say more? I also recommend Kenneth Koch's book Wishes, Lies, and Dreams for teaching poetry."

Language columnist Barbara Wallraff, who we interview in this week's "Behind the Dictionary" feature, recommends these books on usage:

Garner's Modern American Usage, by Bryan A. Garner. "The best single book on the niceties of contemporary American usage."

Modern English Usage, by H.W. Fowler. "The 1st or 2nd edition (not the 3rd edition, Burchfield's Fowler's, which is an entirely different animal). A classic, and a pleasure to read."

The Careful Writer, by Theodore M. Bernstein, "among other usage books by Bernstein. Also classics."

Lapsing Into a Comma and The Elephants of Style, by Bill Walsh, "the Washington Post's very smart, no-nonsense copy chief."

The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker. "Fascinating information about how language 'works.'"

The Wall Street Journal recently featured Michael Kempner's five favorite public relations books. He's the CEO of PR agency MWW Group, and author of an influential blog on the subject. On his blog, Michael says the books were more "on 'spin,' a subtle but important distinction." Here are the books he chose:

Propaganda by Edward Bernays

American Hero by Larry Beinhart

The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words by Ronald C. White, Jr.

Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley

All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President by Mary Matalin and James Carville

We asked Deborah Campbell, the journalist we interview in this week's "Word Count" section, to recommend books by literary journalists. Here are her picks:

Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski

Opening Skinner's Box by Lauren Slater

Joe Bellacero, the veteran educator we interview in this week's "Teachers at Work" section, recommends the following books for teaching language arts:

Reading for Understanding "A book with real application to real urban classrooms to help bring reluctant readers into the reading discourse."

Writing for a Change "A program for getting kids to write to address real problems in their lives and communities. If you like the Freedom Writers movie and the idea that writing can transform the lives of students, you'll want to bring the ideas from this book into your classroom."

Because Writing Matters "A research based book from bringing effective writing programs into schools."