The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Dillard provides insight into, “The Writing Life,” or hers, anyway. This book is filled to the brim with stories, metaphors, and anecdotes about writing, some of which involve the author herself.

Pros:

• The author’s chops as a writer are on full display. There are plenty of breath-taking passages, and many that impart great wisdom. One of my favorite quotes from the book can be found below the conclusion.
• Even if much of the wisdom is wrapped up in metaphor, there is still plenty to be had. Though the book’s run-time is short (approximately 2.5 hours), it is an intense listen. This is the kind of book that demands your full attention, or at least a willingness to listen to it more than once.

Cons:

• If you are looking for a book with grounded, direct advice about how to be a writer, this may not be the book for you. I’m not saying that the book lacks truth, because it is crammed full of cogent musings on the subject. It just deals mostly in metaphor, and doesn’t discuss the proverbial brass tacks (e.g. how to create a schedule, how to get an agent, etc).
• The book is primarily concerned with writing “literary,” works. On one hand, her argument for doing so makes sense: “that writing for people who don’t like reading is a fool’s errand.” On the other hand, I don’t always read “the classics,” or, “literary,” novels, and I don’t always seek to write them, either. I think there’s something to be said about a story that is just trashy fun, even if it is forgettable in the end.

Conclusion:

This wasn’t the book I wanted, given the lack of more grounded tips, but it still provided plenty of insight into one writer’s process. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the author’s conclusions about writing, but I am glad to have gone on the journey with her.

Quote:

“One of the 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 in the book or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.” 

Check it out here.

You may also enjoy…

• “Writing Down The Bones,” by Natalie Goldberg
• “Letters To A Young Writer,” by Colum McCann

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