Dylan is or was a one off. I do not rate his whiny little mono-tone voice and acoustic guitar poetry has never been my fav genre. He did pen a few decent protest songs which were OK when others sang them.
As a singer performer he is very very overrated. As a poet well it is not my cup of tea but I can see the merits and why others like him. I fail to see why he was such an influence. I bet it was a lot of people saying so just to sound trendy and hip.
I agree with Terry. Throw away the books and forget about the seminars and workshops. Write something original not someone elses clone.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055