My reading for craft occurs on an ad hoc basis. When I find something that wows me, I scribble notes on why it blows me away and study the text more closely to try to figure out how it's done. For instance, the way Stephen Baxter manipulates time in _Evolution_, slowing down the asteroid impact that caused dinosaur extinctions, while at the same time preserving its fraction-of-a-second sensation. (That, plus some incredible prose and characterization of creatures who have no dialogue.)

I also loved Ursula Hegi's presentation of the craft (within a fictional setting) in her first novel, _Intrusions_. It's presented as a novel, not a primer, but it's got some great instructive material. I use it in my teaching, along with Naomi Epel's _The Observation Deck_, Natalie Goldberg's _Writing Down the Bones_, and other texts.

I have. Seven years' worth of craft and technique while getting my MFA in creative writing.

Important stuff, craft and technique.

But all the books on craft and all the study of technique don't hold a candle to the creation of your own words on a blank page and the labor of love in revising and rewriting those pages.