The Writing Life
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4.3 • 27 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
"For nonwriters, it is a glimpse into the trials and satisfactions of a life spent with words. For writers, it is a warm, rambling, conversation with a stimulating and extraordinarily talented colleague." — Chicago Tribune
From Pulitzer Prize-winning Annie Dillard, a collection of essays on writing that illuminates the dedication and daring that characterizes a writer's life.
In these short essays, Annie Dillard—the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood—illuminates the dedication, absurdity, and daring that characterize the existence of a writer. A moving account of Dillard’s own experiences with the creative process while writing her works, The Writing Life offers deep insight into one of the most mysterious professions.
With profound insight and startling imagery, this essential work of literary nonfiction confronts the paradoxes of a writer’s work.
The Writer’s Discipline: Dillard explores the daily commitment required to face the blank page, from the practical necessity of a schedule to the metaphysical terror of a single sentence.Artistic Sacrifice: Learn why the part a writer must often jettison is not only the best-written, but the very passage that was to have been the point.A Philosophy of Writing: Through unforgettable metaphors—from a stunt pilot carving the air to a typewriter erupting in flames—Dillard builds a powerful case for what it means to live a life in words.Inspiration for Writers: A profound and deeply honest companion for anyone who has wrestled with the absurd, noble, and necessary task of making art.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
``Every morning,'' writes Dillard, ``you enter your study . . . and slide your desk and chair into the middle of the air . . . your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of belief that keeps you and your desk in midair.'' In this collection of short essays, the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood probes the sorcery that levitates her own writing, discussing with clear eye and wry wit how, where and why she writes. Dillard invokes the places that have helped to inspire her craft: the ``cinderblock cell over a parking lot'' where she completed Pilgrim ; the freezing cabin on Puget Sound where she chopped firewood every day before tackling her current work-in-progress, literary criticism. She recalls the day her typewriter erupted in a shower of fire and soot, and an epic ride with a fearless stunt pilot who conducted himself with reckless imagination and superb craft, like ``any fine artist.'' Self-aware but never self-absorbed, these luminous meditations examine an extraordinary writing life. QPBC alternate; Writer's Digest Book Club alternate.
Customer Reviews
Random Thoughts on the Writer’s Craft
Annie Dillard is a Pulitzer Prize winning Poet, Essayist and Novelist whose work I read many years ago. She married a friend of mine and I’ve followed her work over the years. Since I’ve been doing a little writing recently, I thought I would read her thoughts on the craft.
That’s exactly what the bulk of this brief work is: a Stream of Consciousness of her thoughts as she has struggled with the challenges the writer faces when they sit down with the blank page. It’s not a step by step how-to manual but rather a scattering of notions that go through one’s mind during the process.
That said, just hearing the thoughts of an accomplished author and sympathizing with her experiences has value to anyone who enjoys writing or even reading. Four stars.
I might add that her final story about the work of a professional acrobatic performance pilot and his bi-plane on how he sees his art is worth the price of admission.