When we asked author and teacher Julie Smith, who we feature in this week's Word Count column, to recommend books on writing, she emailed saying, "My choices are all over the map -- popular authors, literary authors, writing teachers as opposed to authors, and even one literary agent. There's a reason for that: Different points of view are absolutely essential. I think aspiring writers should read them all, and then some. You never know what's going to work for you." Thanks, Julie! Here are her picks:

From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler

Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course by Jerry Cleaver

No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty

The website World Hum, an online magazine "dedicated to exploring travel in all its facets," lists their picks for the "top 30 travel books of all time." Click here to read the entire list. The following are a few of our favorite literary travel books that they mention:

The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Road Fever by Tim Cahill

All the Wrong Places by James Fenton

Writing coaches always tell you to read other writers to unlock the secrets of their particular mojo. Author Marilyn Johnson found inspiration in an unlikely place: The obituary column. "Good obit writers can bring someone -- well, to life," she explains. "It's a demonstration of great writing and I was very interested in how they did it." She was so interested, in fact, she started writing obituaries herself -- and then wrote a book on the subject called The Dead Beat. We spoke to Marilyn about the obit genre:

We here at the Visual Thesaurus receive a lot of emails from subscribers around the world. Not long ago we got a nice note from Sandra Dolores Becker of Porto Alegre, Brazil. She wrote:

"The Visual Thesaurus has become a friend, a colleague, and my companion when I'm trying to find the specific word that will fit perfectly in a verse of my early period poetry or when I'm writing another chapter of my book. It's wondrous! I spend my time researching, finding and reflecting on the meaning of words. Simple words? No, words are never simple. They can move mountains, change a nation, make a friend or cause pain. Words can make us dream, see what isn't there at the moment? Accept my gratitude for showing me how to increase my vocabulary with ease!"

Thank you, Sandra! Her note got us curious about her work and the challenges she faces writing in both Portuguese and English. We wanted to ask Sandra for her advice to writers whose native tongue isn't English. So we contacted Sandra in Brazil. We were surprised to learn she had lived the first half of her life in Indiana and works for an American multi-national company, in addition to writing poetry and fiction in both languages. With this unique perspective, here's what Sandra shared with us:

This week's "Word Count" features Sandra Dolores Becker, a Visual Thesaurus subscriber and writer from Brazil who works in both English and Portuguese. We asked Sandra to tell us about books that help her write better in English:

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Straus. I always have this one on hand. It's very practical, with simple rules and easy examples.

Felicity: Summer by Janet Tashijian . Pure American English and delightful reading! It's perfect for reading everyday, normal, spoken English.

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss's books are a must for anyone wanting to learn English -- even adults! There are no words to describe them. You learn, you play, you see, you enjoy.

Paul Slansky writes biting political commentary that's, well, funny. His work appears as political quizzes in the New Yorker and in books like his latest, My Bad: 25 Years of Public Apologies and the Appalling Behavior That Inspired Them. But don't call it satire. "There's not really a word for what I do, which is to point out the reality in things and show what it adds up to," he explains. Paul talked to us about his unique style of political humor.