I was first introduced to The Writing Life in a creative non-fiction writing course I took several years ago. This was one of my first introductions to Annie Dillard and her style of writing. The instructor chose an excerpt from this book about Ms. Dillard playing a game of chess with an unknown opponent as she spent long hours sequestered in a library trying to write. Taken out of context, the excerpt was bizarre and difficult to interpret. Taken in context, the excerpt was still bizarre and difficult to interpret, but made a bit more sense. (I'm still not sure I have it figured out. I believe the chess game was a metaphor for the process of writing: rereading her work with fresh eyes then countering previous thoughts and structures with new ideas and concepts, etc, but this is still a best-guess.)

Dillard is a poet at heart, I believe, and loves to weave words and concepts like an intricate fabric. For example, she has this to say about sentence construction: "Half-naked, with your two bare hands, you hold and fight a sentence's head while its tail tries to knock you over." Obviously the process of writing was a tortured and solitary experience for Dillard as she penned, "Many writers do little else but sit in small rooms recalling the real world."

The book offers great insight not only into the writing life and the hard work and dedication it takes to write an essay or novel, but also into Dillard's interpretation of what it takes to be a writer. Interestingly, on her official website (www.anniedillard.com) she refers to this books an "embarrassing nonfiction narrative".

For anyone interested in writing it is a must read. For anyone who admires Dillard's writing, it is an excellent example of her talent and expert ability to trickle words together, form flowing sentences that finally explode into a cohesive ocean of insight, thought and poetry.