need some good advice:

As you likely know, I'm the new series editor for the Da Capo Best Music Writing
books. In an attempt to make my time with the title fruitful to me as a writer/editor and to understand and hopefully expand the way in which writing is viewed as "good" or "great" or "noteworthy" or "essential" or any of those other value-laden words, I am also working on an independent study through my ethnomusicology department on the subjects of valuation of "writing about music." This is where you come in:

I need advice from folks working as journalists, critics and academics who write regularly about music to tell me what writing has inspired you, shaped your voice/style/ethics/pursuits, or really challenged you in some way. To that end, I am asking for your biblios on the subject, however off the cuff (I'd actually prefer just the things that REALLY come to mind the second you read this).

I'm looking for books, essays, articles, reviews, and/or blog posts
that address:

-the craft of writing in general
-'good writing' in general that has inspired your music writing
-the craft of music writing in general
-'good writing about music'
-and the meta: critical writing about what makes writing about music
good

I am also ESPECIALLY interested in writing across disciplines and fields: journalism, criticism, fiction, creative non-fiction, English, cultural studies, ethnic studies, even...musicology. This is coming in part from my recent completion of a masters thesis in ethnomusicology, which has shown me that skill in pop press writing may not directly transferable to academic writing. Sigh.

So email me or give me some comments on the subject, okay?