'Bird By Bird' is THE best book on writing out there, and I should know, because I have snorted a snitload of the buggers. I should warn you, the writer is a Christian and a gigantic hippy, but boy, can she write, and boy, is she right.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385480016/qid=1110748195/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-2145948-9900663