false 12530 6 Annie Dillard has spent a lot of time in remote, bare-bones shelters doing something she claims to hate: writing. Slender though it is, <I>The Writing Life</I> richly conveys the torturous, tortuous, and in rare moments, transcendent existence of the writer. Even for Dillard, whose prose is so mellifluous as to seem effortless, the act of writing can seem a Sisyphean task: "When you write," she says, "you lay out a line of words.... Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject? You will know tomorrow or this time next year." Amid moving accounts of her own writing (and life) experiences, Dillard also manages to impart wisdom to other writers, wisdom having to do with passion and commitment and taking the work seriously. "One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place.... Something more will arise for later, something better." And, if that is not enough, "Assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients," she says. "That is, after all, the case.... What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?"<p> This all makes <I>The Writing Life</I> seem a dense, tough read, but that is not the case at all. Dillard is, after all, human, just like the rest of us. During one particularly frantic moment, four cups of coffee and not much writing down, Dillard comes to a realization: "Many fine people were out there living, people whose consciences permitted them to sleep at night despite their not having written a decent sentence that day, or ever." <I>--Jane Steinberg</I> 516929 1989 The Writing Life total:1231|5:424|4:478|3:255|2:61|1:13| 1231 4932 1699 147 5 6 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 06:06:29 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 06:25:21 -0800 2008 I came across this bo...more...]]> 5 6 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jul 30 12:05:45 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 03 14:16:41 -0700 2007
On page 14, Dillard writes: "Flaubert wrote steadily, with only the usual, appalling, strains. For twenty-five years he finished a big book every five to seven years. My...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 04 12:53:08 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 12:57:03 -0800 2009 1
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Writers, you should read this book. In fact, we should all read the first chapter ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 24 07:40:25 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 07:40:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 09:31:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 20:21:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1995 Thu Aug 06 09:52:43 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 10:11:01 -0700 2009 235 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 07:25:32 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 08:43:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 19:23:46 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 17:36:12 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 08 03:59:36 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 03:59:53 -0700 2008 Annie Dillard looks at her own approach to writing in The Writing Life. She considers why and how she writes. She considers what has worked for her in the past and what has not. She invites the reader into her head as she recalls different writing experiences and whether or not they were succe...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 12 09:13:51 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 12 09:14:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 16 12:30:58 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 12:43:11 -0700 2008 "apparently totally unfit for life in this world. It wears out its day in constant panic...The wretched inchworm hangs from the side of a grassblade and ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Mar 13 10:39:50 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 07:48:27 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 04 22:01:16 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 04 22:14:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 04 10:48:09 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 16:13:44 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 13:26:03 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 17:01:35 -0700 2007 more...]]>