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The Writing Life: Writers On How They Think And Work
Featuring a gathering of more than fifty of contemporary literature's finest voices, this volume will enchant, move, and inspire readers with its tales of The Writing Life . In it, authors divulge professional how they first discovered they were writers, how they work, how they deal with the myriad frustrations and delights a writer's life affords. Culled from ten years of the distinguished Washington Post column of the same name, The Writing Life highlights an eclectic group of luminaries who have wildly varied stories to tell, but who share this singularly beguiling career. Here are their pleasures as well as their peeves; revelations of their deepest fears; dramas of triumphs and failures; insights into the demands and rewards.
Each piece is accompanied by a brief and vivid biography of the writer by Washington Post Book World editor Marie Arana who also provides an introduction to the collection. The result is a rare view from the a close examination of writers' concerns about the creative process and the place of literature in America. For anyone interested in the making of fiction and nonfiction, here is a fascinating vantage on the writer's world -- an indispensable guide to the craft.
Each piece is accompanied by a brief and vivid biography of the writer by Washington Post Book World editor Marie Arana who also provides an introduction to the collection. The result is a rare view from the a close examination of writers' concerns about the creative process and the place of literature in America. For anyone interested in the making of fiction and nonfiction, here is a fascinating vantage on the writer's world -- an indispensable guide to the craft.
426 pages, Paperback
First published May 7, 2003
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About the author
Marie Arana
15 books126 followersShe was born in Peru, moved to the United States at the age of 9, did her B.A. in Russian at Northwestern University, her M.A. in linguistics at Hong Kong University, a certificate of scholarship at Yale University in China, and began her career in book publishing, where she was vice president and senior editor at Harcourt Brace and Simon & Schuster. For more than a decade she was the editor in chief of "Book World", the book review section of The Washington Post. Currently, she is a Writer at Large for The Washington Post. She is married to Jonathan Yardley, the Post's chief book critic, and has two children, Lalo Walsh and Adam Ward.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 18, 2013
How do you rate a collection? Is it the selections that matter? How well they tie together as a theme? Is it the introductions to each selection? Marie Arana succeeded in all of these areas. I enjoyed every essay, especially the ones by James Michener, Ray Bradbury, Carol Shields, Patricia Cornwell, Wendy Wasserstein, Michael Korda, and Julian Barnes. The career path for writers has changed over time. What remains constant is that every writer finds a distinctive way of viewing the world and masters the often painstaking craft of sharing it with others.
December 10, 2020
Parts of this book are as dull as its cover, but others are illuminating, thought-provoking, even humorous. A compendium of essays by and about fifty-five notable authors, The Writing Life provides insights into how writers' thoughts and habits develop, as well as their take on the publishing process itself. Many of the essays, written mostly in the 1990s, are worthwhile for writers or would-be writers or serious readers, for that matter, to ponder, while others, in truth, can be skimmed. Several of the authors I'd never heard of, and only a dozen were ones I'd actually read, but I was glad to be exposed to the thoughts of writers new to me that I might have otherwise missed.
January 6, 2023
2-3 bangers with the rest largely missable
December 21, 2022
This book makes excellent reading for the aspiring writer with only sporadic bursts of downtime. Written originally as a serial Washington Post column, it features the highest-caliber writers, each writing in their own voice. As it's around 20 years in the past at this point, it also always a survey of high to low fiction from the late 20th century. Joyce Carol Oates appears alongside James Michener, for example. You'll never guess whose novels you'll go searching for by the time you've finished.
March 10, 2019
So here I sit, writing about writing about writers writing about writing. No, really!
"The Writing Life" was a column which ran in the Washington Post's Book World section, in which published writers were invited to wax philosophical about their craft. This book, of the same title, collects together fifty-some-odd of those articles, written between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, and organizes them into sections based on subject matter: becoming a writer, work habits, writing non-fiction, and so on. As one might expect, it's a mixed bag, and what appeals to me might not appeal to another reader, and vice versa. Naturally all of it is well-written, and both well-known and more obscure writers are represented in equal measure.
As a writer myself, I am of the opinion that the artistic process is mysterious enough in its basic form without mystifying it further when trying to describe it. Thus, I tend to favor the more down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts, pragmatic pieces in this collection. Speaking as someone who has been involved in multiple art forms (writing, music, and theater), it has been my observation that those who use flowery poetics and complex, abstruse language either have little to say about their craft (perhaps they simply don't understand how they do what they do?), or else, feeling that art should be the purview of a privileged few, they are unwilling to give anything away. In the former case, there's little to be done. In the latter case, however, I disagree vehemently. Artists with any facility whatsoever, not to mention those with the greatest facility, should be eager to initiate novices into their craft, and that for many reasons. Among those reasons is the self-evident fact that inscrutability is at odds with the primary purpose of writing, which is to communicate to a reader. This does not demand simplistic prose, but clear prose. Fortunately, the majority of the authors represented in this collection opt for lucidity.
The only other criticism I have is that after reading the first two dozen two-page author biographies with which the editor introduces each piece, they start to become formulaic. In many cases the facts of the author's life have informed their work and are evident in their essays, but the editor's required use of flattering superlatives becomes tedious before even the halfway point is reached.
On the whole, this is a useful and insightful collection for anyone trying to understand the art of writing, its processes, and its practices. Perhaps taking it in doses, as opposed to cover-to-cover, would be the best approach for the general reader.
"The Writing Life" was a column which ran in the Washington Post's Book World section, in which published writers were invited to wax philosophical about their craft. This book, of the same title, collects together fifty-some-odd of those articles, written between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, and organizes them into sections based on subject matter: becoming a writer, work habits, writing non-fiction, and so on. As one might expect, it's a mixed bag, and what appeals to me might not appeal to another reader, and vice versa. Naturally all of it is well-written, and both well-known and more obscure writers are represented in equal measure.
As a writer myself, I am of the opinion that the artistic process is mysterious enough in its basic form without mystifying it further when trying to describe it. Thus, I tend to favor the more down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts, pragmatic pieces in this collection. Speaking as someone who has been involved in multiple art forms (writing, music, and theater), it has been my observation that those who use flowery poetics and complex, abstruse language either have little to say about their craft (perhaps they simply don't understand how they do what they do?), or else, feeling that art should be the purview of a privileged few, they are unwilling to give anything away. In the former case, there's little to be done. In the latter case, however, I disagree vehemently. Artists with any facility whatsoever, not to mention those with the greatest facility, should be eager to initiate novices into their craft, and that for many reasons. Among those reasons is the self-evident fact that inscrutability is at odds with the primary purpose of writing, which is to communicate to a reader. This does not demand simplistic prose, but clear prose. Fortunately, the majority of the authors represented in this collection opt for lucidity.
The only other criticism I have is that after reading the first two dozen two-page author biographies with which the editor introduces each piece, they start to become formulaic. In many cases the facts of the author's life have informed their work and are evident in their essays, but the editor's required use of flattering superlatives becomes tedious before even the halfway point is reached.
On the whole, this is a useful and insightful collection for anyone trying to understand the art of writing, its processes, and its practices. Perhaps taking it in doses, as opposed to cover-to-cover, would be the best approach for the general reader.
February 16, 2012
This was fun to read. Writers are so creative--a thousand essays (a few times it felt like that many) on the same topic, and yet each was different. The introductory biographies were sometimes awesome, sometimes unnecessarily longer than the essay itself.
June 4, 2018
(english: ok source of writing tips, wide breadth)
Jag läser nästan alltid någon bok som handlar om skrivande, samtidigt som jag läser skönlitteratur. Både för min egen skull, och för att bredda mina kunskaper för mina kurser i skrivande. Den här var tacksam på så vis att det var korta avsnitt, som anpassade för lunchläsning eller avbrottsläsning. Det kommer sig av att det är en samling av 56 essäer, med introduktioner av författarna, där författare skriver om sitt skrivande, artiklar som publicerats under rubriken ”The Writing Life” i the Washington Post.
Stor bredd, från skönlitteratur till biografier, populärvetenskap, poesi. Ur olika perspektiv, eller med olika fokus; sektionerna är ”On becoming a writer”, ”Raw Material”, ”Hunkering down”, ”Old bottle new wine”, ”Facing the facts” and ”Looking back”. Nå, kapitelrubrikerna kanske inte förklarar så mycket, men det fanns en röd tråd i dem som jag uppskattade. Det var inte så många namn jag kände till sedan innan, Umberto Eco, Nadine Gordimer, Erica Jong, Joyce Carol Oates, Carl Sagan, Muriel Spark. Men det gjorde inte så mycket, de jag inte kände till kunde ändå ibland vara intressantare än de jag kände till. En stor mängd var inte så särskilt givande. En hoppade jag över helt och hållet, han skrev om krig och klagade på att vara medelklass i England så jag bara iddes inte. Men här och där, intressanta idéer, bekräftelser, nyheter, råd. All in all en helt ok bok om skrivande, några essäer kommer jag kanske att hänvisa till i mina kurser, några lär jag minnas för egen del.
Jag läser nästan alltid någon bok som handlar om skrivande, samtidigt som jag läser skönlitteratur. Både för min egen skull, och för att bredda mina kunskaper för mina kurser i skrivande. Den här var tacksam på så vis att det var korta avsnitt, som anpassade för lunchläsning eller avbrottsläsning. Det kommer sig av att det är en samling av 56 essäer, med introduktioner av författarna, där författare skriver om sitt skrivande, artiklar som publicerats under rubriken ”The Writing Life” i the Washington Post.
Stor bredd, från skönlitteratur till biografier, populärvetenskap, poesi. Ur olika perspektiv, eller med olika fokus; sektionerna är ”On becoming a writer”, ”Raw Material”, ”Hunkering down”, ”Old bottle new wine”, ”Facing the facts” and ”Looking back”. Nå, kapitelrubrikerna kanske inte förklarar så mycket, men det fanns en röd tråd i dem som jag uppskattade. Det var inte så många namn jag kände till sedan innan, Umberto Eco, Nadine Gordimer, Erica Jong, Joyce Carol Oates, Carl Sagan, Muriel Spark. Men det gjorde inte så mycket, de jag inte kände till kunde ändå ibland vara intressantare än de jag kände till. En stor mängd var inte så särskilt givande. En hoppade jag över helt och hållet, han skrev om krig och klagade på att vara medelklass i England så jag bara iddes inte. Men här och där, intressanta idéer, bekräftelser, nyheter, råd. All in all en helt ok bok om skrivande, några essäer kommer jag kanske att hänvisa till i mina kurser, några lär jag minnas för egen del.
November 5, 2017
I found this book to be a mixed bag. The interesting lesson I took from it above all was that writers are simply a cross section of people who do a certain thing (write). So just as, if you went to a banker's convention, you'd meet bankers with whom you had an immediate affinity and found many shared habits and tastes, as well as bankers whose world view was an absolute mystery to you and whose ways and habits were utterly confounding at best, repulsive at worst; in that same way, when reading this collection of essays on writing I found some resonated clearly and were very entertaining or moving or informative, while others seemed tedious and unintelligible to me. That is no comment on the accomplishments of the individual writers, and in a couple cases I was surprised to find that authors whose books I had loved left me cold with their essays on writing.
I learned a lot from this book, both about writing and about the nature of writers, and for that it is well worth reading. However, for entertainment value, I don't rate this book very high.
I learned a lot from this book, both about writing and about the nature of writers, and for that it is well worth reading. However, for entertainment value, I don't rate this book very high.
June 15, 2024
I wanted to give this only four stars because this wasn't the book I thought it was, but in the end I had to give it five because no matter my expectations it was exactly what it's title suggests. Each of these short pieces first appeared in the Washington Post and were then collected and republished here.
I expected a primer offering pragmatic advice on how to craft a story or narrative and instead I got philosophy and thought. In the end maybe that is what a writer needs. After all, philosophy and thought are as important as knowing how to write a great narrative. Besides, there are thousands of pragmatic books that offer advice.
I expected a primer offering pragmatic advice on how to craft a story or narrative and instead I got philosophy and thought. In the end maybe that is what a writer needs. After all, philosophy and thought are as important as knowing how to write a great narrative. Besides, there are thousands of pragmatic books that offer advice.
April 23, 2022
Quite a number of these short essays were a joy to read -- insightful, even revelatory windows into a writer's mind. But too many were deadly boring and self-serious, penned by writers I found myself wishing had not found pens at all.
I'm grateful to have read this; I very much enjoyed Marie Arana's brief biographies of each author, and would love a continuing series of these essays (this was published in 2003) -- but would appreciate a more discriminating editorial hand in deciding which writers should make the final cut.
I'm grateful to have read this; I very much enjoyed Marie Arana's brief biographies of each author, and would love a continuing series of these essays (this was published in 2003) -- but would appreciate a more discriminating editorial hand in deciding which writers should make the final cut.
July 25, 2018
Overall I liked the organization. I appreciated the brief biography before each essay, and I liked seeing a different side of the writers through a different genre than I read them. I did, however, question why some of the essays were included, not why some of the sections needed as many essays as were in that section.
February 25, 2020
While this book is an interesting brief look of lots writer’s loves, I felt like it didn’t really live up to the subtitle of “Writers on how they think and work.”
While there were some elements of that the majority of this is more about a short version of their writing/publishing journey.
3 Stars, it was okay, but it isn’t something I would really recommend.
While there were some elements of that the majority of this is more about a short version of their writing/publishing journey.
3 Stars, it was okay, but it isn’t something I would really recommend.
December 29, 2025
How do you judge a collection of very different essays, albeit all related to the craft of writing? Some spoke to me, some didn't. But these essays here and their authors are well presented and the book as a whole is an informative, interesting read, hence the 4-star rating.
August 1, 2020
Some interesting, some good, and some boring.
April 22, 2021
Some worthwhile essays - and all 55 are brief - but as a through book only useful for writing geeks like me.
January 27, 2022
Many excellent essays and short biographies of some fabulous writers.
December 26, 2014
This collection from the Washington Post draws essays and their inspirations from novelists, nonfiction writers, and one or two times, a writer's arch nemesis, the editor. It's uneven and often times tedious, but roaring with the fuel any artist needs to get up in the morning.
The interesting conundrum here is that no matter who's giving me advice (mostly in the form of personal life stories instead of upfront secrets of the trade), they're still writers, no matter my personal affiliation to their chosen genre, and suffer the barrage of woes from writer's block to professional anemia, just the same. Redundancy kicks in when you finish an eloquent sermon only to have to read another author bio, even as informatively written by the editor of the Washington Post Book World, Marie Arana. There will be times when you finally reach the author's own essay and it's only a couple pages long. Rinse and repeat. But eventually, as in all good to great collections, you find something worth clinging onto. I came into this expecting symmetry and didn't find it. What I did find, though, was some sort of umbilical solace in the age-old writing dilemma, which plagues anyone who holds their pen or sharpens their pencil or palms their keyboard as if their life depended on it. And often times it does. These 55 writers from Joyce Carol Oates to Umberto Eco and Carl Sagan and Michael Chabon do a decent job alleviating that pressure.
These are my favorites.
Francine du Plessix Gray: (1) Keep your sentences erotic (2) Axiom One: What do these two sentences have in common? I ask my class, hoping to elicit the following answers: They each have that central attribute of great prose - a tonality and rhythm so flawless that no one syllable can be altered without radically upsetting the dynamics of the phrase. They each communicate, with eerie immediacy, the pitch of the author's central theme... So think of each word as a potential spouse or lover, I tell my recruits: We can only avoid bromides and platitudes by combating the embrace of all words that are too long married, by struggling against any form of verbal missionary positions (3) a good writer, like a good lover, must create a pact of trust with the object of his/her seduction that remains qualified, paradoxically, by a good measure of uncertainty, mystery and surprise.
Joanna Trollope: (1) But what they forget is that the writers who last, the writers whose writing is indeed their monument, not only have an essential benevolence, a fundamental affection for the human race, but also, more uncomfortably, possess a hefty dose of humility.
Susan Minot: (1) I believe that what an artist needs most, more than inspiration or financial consolation or encouragement or talent or love or luck, is endurance.
Erica Jong: (1) A character may even access some deep memory in the writer's brain that seemed lost forever. Fictional characters excavate real memories. Flaubert, after all, claimed to be Emma Bovary and gave her his restlessness and discontent. In some ways an author may be freer to expose himself in a character unlike himself. There is liberty behind a mask. The mask may become the condition for speaking the truth (2) Every book I have written has subsumed all the struggles of the years in which I wrote it.
E. L. Doctorow: (1) As it happens, there is just one voice and one voice only for a given book and you must ventriloquize until you find it.
Frances FitzGerald: (1) Still, there is at least one satisfaction in finishing a book, and it is this: A book between covers is a solid object, and having it to pick up and put down tells you that you have made something as substantial as a shoe or plate.
Carol Shields: (1) Full-blown paranoia has arrived. When a friend tells me she has read my book between dinner and bedtime, I can scarcely keep the whine of injury out of my voice: This happens to be a book I spent 2 years writing, I want to say, and you're telling me you scarfed it down in one evening! (2) "I would have bought your book," a colleague tells me, "but it came out far too late for my wife's birthday." (I'm still sifting through the many levels of this extraordinary remark.) (3) "I would have read your book, but I don't have time for fiction." (4) "I read so much during the day" - this is a favorite of lawyers and business people - "that I can't concentrate on anything but junk TV in the evening." (5) Who knows, in the end, what is true? Not you. Especially not you.
Michael Chabon: (1) In the same way, the writer shapes his story, flecked like river clay with the grit of experience and rank with the smell of human life, heedless of the danger to himself, eager to show his powers, to celebrate his mastery, to bring into being a little world that, like God's, is at once terribly imperfect and filled with astonishing life.
The interesting conundrum here is that no matter who's giving me advice (mostly in the form of personal life stories instead of upfront secrets of the trade), they're still writers, no matter my personal affiliation to their chosen genre, and suffer the barrage of woes from writer's block to professional anemia, just the same. Redundancy kicks in when you finish an eloquent sermon only to have to read another author bio, even as informatively written by the editor of the Washington Post Book World, Marie Arana. There will be times when you finally reach the author's own essay and it's only a couple pages long. Rinse and repeat. But eventually, as in all good to great collections, you find something worth clinging onto. I came into this expecting symmetry and didn't find it. What I did find, though, was some sort of umbilical solace in the age-old writing dilemma, which plagues anyone who holds their pen or sharpens their pencil or palms their keyboard as if their life depended on it. And often times it does. These 55 writers from Joyce Carol Oates to Umberto Eco and Carl Sagan and Michael Chabon do a decent job alleviating that pressure.
These are my favorites.
Francine du Plessix Gray: (1) Keep your sentences erotic (2) Axiom One: What do these two sentences have in common? I ask my class, hoping to elicit the following answers: They each have that central attribute of great prose - a tonality and rhythm so flawless that no one syllable can be altered without radically upsetting the dynamics of the phrase. They each communicate, with eerie immediacy, the pitch of the author's central theme... So think of each word as a potential spouse or lover, I tell my recruits: We can only avoid bromides and platitudes by combating the embrace of all words that are too long married, by struggling against any form of verbal missionary positions (3) a good writer, like a good lover, must create a pact of trust with the object of his/her seduction that remains qualified, paradoxically, by a good measure of uncertainty, mystery and surprise.
Joanna Trollope: (1) But what they forget is that the writers who last, the writers whose writing is indeed their monument, not only have an essential benevolence, a fundamental affection for the human race, but also, more uncomfortably, possess a hefty dose of humility.
Susan Minot: (1) I believe that what an artist needs most, more than inspiration or financial consolation or encouragement or talent or love or luck, is endurance.
Erica Jong: (1) A character may even access some deep memory in the writer's brain that seemed lost forever. Fictional characters excavate real memories. Flaubert, after all, claimed to be Emma Bovary and gave her his restlessness and discontent. In some ways an author may be freer to expose himself in a character unlike himself. There is liberty behind a mask. The mask may become the condition for speaking the truth (2) Every book I have written has subsumed all the struggles of the years in which I wrote it.
E. L. Doctorow: (1) As it happens, there is just one voice and one voice only for a given book and you must ventriloquize until you find it.
Frances FitzGerald: (1) Still, there is at least one satisfaction in finishing a book, and it is this: A book between covers is a solid object, and having it to pick up and put down tells you that you have made something as substantial as a shoe or plate.
Carol Shields: (1) Full-blown paranoia has arrived. When a friend tells me she has read my book between dinner and bedtime, I can scarcely keep the whine of injury out of my voice: This happens to be a book I spent 2 years writing, I want to say, and you're telling me you scarfed it down in one evening! (2) "I would have bought your book," a colleague tells me, "but it came out far too late for my wife's birthday." (I'm still sifting through the many levels of this extraordinary remark.) (3) "I would have read your book, but I don't have time for fiction." (4) "I read so much during the day" - this is a favorite of lawyers and business people - "that I can't concentrate on anything but junk TV in the evening." (5) Who knows, in the end, what is true? Not you. Especially not you.
Michael Chabon: (1) In the same way, the writer shapes his story, flecked like river clay with the grit of experience and rank with the smell of human life, heedless of the danger to himself, eager to show his powers, to celebrate his mastery, to bring into being a little world that, like God's, is at once terribly imperfect and filled with astonishing life.
March 23, 2016
So it occurred to me, genius that I am, that I've been selling short stories and writing novels (notice the difference there), but I don't know any writers. I mean, at all. Harlan Coben once bought be lunch at an agent's conference in Dedham, Massachusetts, and even sat with me to eat (so of course I've bought all of his books since), but that's it. I don't know any writers at all.
Yes, that's a cry for help. Writers, befriend me!
But I almost digress. The point here is that there are questions writers need answered that non-writers can't help with. Like: Where do ideas come from? What happens when your writing chair and desk don't help you produce anymore? How do you deal with the postpartum depression that hits when you finish a novel you've lived with (in my case) for over 20 years? Should I feel badly that I didn't write today? Or this week? Or this month. (Answer: No. Maybe not. And yes.)
You get the idea. I saw this book in the library, after I realized that I didn't have any writer friends (I do have friends--who think I'm nuts for staring at a computer screen or notebook as often as I do--but I don't have any friends who are writers.) and that I didn't have any answers to these questions, and to many more like them. And that I needed some damn solace. So I checked this book out and read it--sporadically, like I write.
Some selections were minor miracles. Some were breakthroughs. A couple were of no interest and I skimmed those. But, just to share a few things:
--The introductions of the writers and of their works, all written by Marie Arana, are just as interesting as the writers' pieces themselves. Sometimes, more so. To whit: "It may have been when Jane Smiley's husband announced he was running off with her dental hygienist in 1996 that Smiley found herself asking the big questions about life, love and work" (387).
--Jimmy Carter writes about how the Presidency bankrupted him. He had a thriving business going when he got elected. He shelved the business, but four years later found that it had accumulated over $1 million in debt. He had to write his first few books just to make enough money to pay off the debts to keep his house. His real, actual house.
--A remarkable number of very successful authors have been "late-life" writers, as Dominick Dunne put it.
--About 90% of the successful writers in this book also have other careers that actually pay the bills. Over 90% of those are professors.
--There are some excellent quotes and thoughts about what writing is. Everyone chronicled here said that writing is a necessary, blessed vocation--with occasionally large drawbacks.
If you're a writer, or if you're interested in writers or writing, you should read this book. I'm going to find it in a bookstore somewhere shortly.
Yes, that's a cry for help. Writers, befriend me!
But I almost digress. The point here is that there are questions writers need answered that non-writers can't help with. Like: Where do ideas come from? What happens when your writing chair and desk don't help you produce anymore? How do you deal with the postpartum depression that hits when you finish a novel you've lived with (in my case) for over 20 years? Should I feel badly that I didn't write today? Or this week? Or this month. (Answer: No. Maybe not. And yes.)
You get the idea. I saw this book in the library, after I realized that I didn't have any writer friends (I do have friends--who think I'm nuts for staring at a computer screen or notebook as often as I do--but I don't have any friends who are writers.) and that I didn't have any answers to these questions, and to many more like them. And that I needed some damn solace. So I checked this book out and read it--sporadically, like I write.
Some selections were minor miracles. Some were breakthroughs. A couple were of no interest and I skimmed those. But, just to share a few things:
--The introductions of the writers and of their works, all written by Marie Arana, are just as interesting as the writers' pieces themselves. Sometimes, more so. To whit: "It may have been when Jane Smiley's husband announced he was running off with her dental hygienist in 1996 that Smiley found herself asking the big questions about life, love and work" (387).
--Jimmy Carter writes about how the Presidency bankrupted him. He had a thriving business going when he got elected. He shelved the business, but four years later found that it had accumulated over $1 million in debt. He had to write his first few books just to make enough money to pay off the debts to keep his house. His real, actual house.
--A remarkable number of very successful authors have been "late-life" writers, as Dominick Dunne put it.
--About 90% of the successful writers in this book also have other careers that actually pay the bills. Over 90% of those are professors.
--There are some excellent quotes and thoughts about what writing is. Everyone chronicled here said that writing is a necessary, blessed vocation--with occasionally large drawbacks.
If you're a writer, or if you're interested in writers or writing, you should read this book. I'm going to find it in a bookstore somewhere shortly.
April 24, 2020
Instagram Review: www.instagram.com/p/B76j0GFgpTt/
Marie Arana edits and introduces this collection of essays written by various household authors from the 90's and then published in Washington Post's weekly editorial, "Book World." This book would please and entertain the bookworm or writer interested in the past lives of other (or in my case, more successful) writers. I question the value The Writing Life offers the contemporary writer as a writing text, mostly because you will want to make yourself aware how old the essay is before you decide how brilliant (or ridiculous) you decide the material really is, and therefore, do you need to scream into that pillow (or spend an hour taking notes, only to scribble them out)?
In general, as with almost anything, I found a good number of essays I considered timeless enough to be useful. Nadine Gordimer in "Being a Product of your Dwelling Place" writes about how Apartheid affected writing all over the globe. That event happened long ago, but she's not only writing about Apartheid; she writing about a groundswell and that's a thing we can see if we look around us now and at any point in history. That's a timely and timeless essay. Another fine example is Ntozake Shange's "From Memory to the Imagination." The first paragraph of this essay stunningly satirizes the fiction writer's experience when they are accused of autobiography. The rest of the piece matches this opening in bite and value. Many more of the essays in this book can be of equal value to the writer, and any reader will find good reading.
On the other hand, some of the essays didn't age as well. I found a hopelessly irresponsible depiction of bipolar disorder, in so many possible ways, in both Marie Arana's write up of the author Kay Redfield Jamison, and in Jamison's article, "From the Clinic." In "Too Happy for Words,"Alice McDermott's expresses seeping disapproval for seemingly everyone -- mothers who are older than her, mothers who are younger than her, and all men (and the worst part, her tone assumes the reader's in on it with her). If she wrote satire into this essay, I missed it. The tones of both these pieces clank because they're outdated. If you decided to pick up this book and one of the essay feels like it belongs to your grandpa, check the year at the end of the essay. Because it just might belong to your grandpa.
All said, I loved this collection and I think it was worth the new price I paid for it. If you can get it used or get an eBook, I would consider that a good deal for sure! Take care writers and creatives!
Marie Arana edits and introduces this collection of essays written by various household authors from the 90's and then published in Washington Post's weekly editorial, "Book World." This book would please and entertain the bookworm or writer interested in the past lives of other (or in my case, more successful) writers. I question the value The Writing Life offers the contemporary writer as a writing text, mostly because you will want to make yourself aware how old the essay is before you decide how brilliant (or ridiculous) you decide the material really is, and therefore, do you need to scream into that pillow (or spend an hour taking notes, only to scribble them out)?
In general, as with almost anything, I found a good number of essays I considered timeless enough to be useful. Nadine Gordimer in "Being a Product of your Dwelling Place" writes about how Apartheid affected writing all over the globe. That event happened long ago, but she's not only writing about Apartheid; she writing about a groundswell and that's a thing we can see if we look around us now and at any point in history. That's a timely and timeless essay. Another fine example is Ntozake Shange's "From Memory to the Imagination." The first paragraph of this essay stunningly satirizes the fiction writer's experience when they are accused of autobiography. The rest of the piece matches this opening in bite and value. Many more of the essays in this book can be of equal value to the writer, and any reader will find good reading.
On the other hand, some of the essays didn't age as well. I found a hopelessly irresponsible depiction of bipolar disorder, in so many possible ways, in both Marie Arana's write up of the author Kay Redfield Jamison, and in Jamison's article, "From the Clinic." In "Too Happy for Words,"Alice McDermott's expresses seeping disapproval for seemingly everyone -- mothers who are older than her, mothers who are younger than her, and all men (and the worst part, her tone assumes the reader's in on it with her). If she wrote satire into this essay, I missed it. The tones of both these pieces clank because they're outdated. If you decided to pick up this book and one of the essay feels like it belongs to your grandpa, check the year at the end of the essay. Because it just might belong to your grandpa.
All said, I loved this collection and I think it was worth the new price I paid for it. If you can get it used or get an eBook, I would consider that a good deal for sure! Take care writers and creatives!
December 9, 2010
A collection of very nice craft essays by a variety of different authors. My favorite was by Joyce Carol Oates, where she discusses why she writes so many books about abused women - when she was in school, Oates was constantly bullied by a couple of boys, and she writes stories about women being abused as a way of dealing with this childhood trauma.
I read this, thought about how often I complain about how Joyce Carol Oates always writes about how Men Are Bad And Will Hurt You, and immediately felt like the world's biggest jackass. Sorry, Joyce.
I read this, thought about how often I complain about how Joyce Carol Oates always writes about how Men Are Bad And Will Hurt You, and immediately felt like the world's biggest jackass. Sorry, Joyce.
January 2, 2016
I have taken up hobby writing since retiring and I was thrilled to find this book. Though it was from 2003 (read in 2015) I doubt that writer's advice and experiences were significantly different then than now (except publishing, for sure). I found frank descriptions of the writers life styles, methods, stumbling blocks and joys. All this encouraged me as I start out on this adventure. I have few (well, maybe a few) thoughts of reaching a life of fame. I am happy with a good passage at this point. Finishing a book will be a thrill, even if it is never published. The process is the fun.
December 13, 2009
It was like stepping into a room and witnessing brilliant minds who spoke on the craft writing. I was inspired and surprised by what some of the writers had to say as well as intrigued by the variety of personalities that sit down to compose stories. Most invaluable was the list of authors I walked away with in my back pocket. I visited my local library the soonest I could and grabbed their books off the shelf, ready to discover more.
January 18, 2011
I enjoyed this book for it's great insight and clear contributions by many writers. Many of the ideas provided here were quickly incorporated into my own writing practices, and with good results. If you are seriously working at your writing and living The Writing Life. This book offers plenty of good advice.
May 13, 2008
Totally engrossing, with so many different perspectives on the craft of writing. Fiction, nonfiction, historicl, essay: many different styles of writing are treated in this book, and each author is riveting.
November 7, 2011
The piece by Michael Chabon, "writer, be afraid' is my favourite. Writers shared what motivates them; a verse, a piece of music; anything. The intros by Marie Arana were equally absorbing. It's a book worth many re-reads
June 27, 2013
This book is a really special collection of articles for all types of writers. Most of them I sincerely enjoyed, while some of them I couldn't connect as closely with. I highly recommend it for any writer.
April 8, 2013
Real-life insight into the writing life.
April 16, 2011
This edited book was a bit uneven in spots, but overall, most of the short essays were enjoyable.
June 10, 2012
I like this collection better than the similar one compliled by the New York Times called Writers on Writing.
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