Eileen Wilks is one busy author. In the past ten years, she's written twenty nine novels. Her world? Romance, the most popular genre in America. And not only here: Eileen's books have been translated into twelve languages. She recently emailed us about how the Visual Thesaurus helps her work.

"The Visual Thesaurus isn't just a fun way to avoid writing, or other productive work. (Though it is that, at times.) Yesterday I used it to come up with a title for my current book-in-progress. My editor emailed me that she'd be cover-conferencing the book next week, and did I have a title yet? Well, no. I had some ideas, all bad. I took a few key words and started plugging them into the Visual Thesaurus, following one link or another, backtracking, and eventually -- boing! I hit pay dirt. Thank you for a wonderful tool. I wouldn't have arrived at 'Blood Lines' without it."

You're most welcome, Eileen.

Eileen also gave us an idea: We wanted to find out how she does it -- what are her secrets for being so productive a writer? And what advice does she have for those of us struggling to write, whether it's our first book or first marketing brochure? So we called Eileen at home in Midland, Texas, to find out. We hit pay dirt, too:

Dog Eared is the section where you, the good subscribers of Visual Thesaurus, recommend the books you love.

I, your humble editor, will kick things off by telling you about four of my favorite books on writing.

1. Writing Broadcast News--Shorter, Sharper, Stronger, by Mervin Block. I know it says "broadcast news" in the title, but trust me: This book will help you with any kind of writing.
2. The Art of Fact, edited by Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda. An anthology of "literary journalism," it features writers as diverse as Daniel Defoe and Lillian Ross.
3. Spunk & Bite, by Arthur Plotnik. If you think Strunk & White is a wee bit outdated, you're not alone.
4. On Writing Well, by William Zinsser. This oldie but goodie still resonates.