In this short meditation on the craft of writing, Annie Dillard includes short essays on her experience as a writer. Similar to Stephen King’s On Writing, Dillard wrote a beautiful book that can apply to any creative endeavour.
Her writing reinforces the adage that writing is ‘as easy as that, and as hard as that.’ She writes in a beautiful poetic non-fiction prose, which is so elegant and accessible to the reader.
This review is going to be remarkably short, because the book is only 100 pages, but I feel that this book would make the perfect holiday gift to any writers, people who are curious about the art of writing, or anyone who lives/dreams to live their creative life out loud.
Dillard discusses about how she has different needs for her writing than other writers, including her own husband. She discusses that as much as she loves writing, she also loathes it. She discusses her artistic processes, and describes her environment in such a rich way that when she speaks of writing on the cold beach of an island in the Haida Gwaii, you can nearly feel the cold, salty air on your face.
I recommend this highly to anyone, but especially those with an artistic bent to their lives.
Originally intended to simply focus on book reviews, over time, KaliDesautelsReads has morphed into its own entity.
I write about issues that are near to my heart, be they political, feminist, motherhood, mental health, or, as the title holds, books.
A thirty-something Canadian woman in my mid-thirties, I have been "super married" to my high school sweetheart since 2006, and together we have two crazy, clever, kind, hilarious, wonderful kids.
My first book - How Not To Blog: Finding Myself, One Post at a Time is available on Amazon (in eBook formats for you clever tech readers, and paperback for those of us who love that new book smell!)
I have tried a podcast - it's still on Apple and Google Podcasts - but writing is where my heart is.
My life changed dramatically when my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in 2018, and I am now a writer for a leading Canadian Cancer Non-Profit.
I am lucky enough to have a family that loves me and pushes me to be my best, even if it is outside of my cushiony comfort zone. I have a village of friends that nourish me, mentally, and spiritually.
Welcome to my thoughts. Sit down. Stay a while. Enjoy a cup of coffee!
View all posts by KaliDesautelsSpeaks