The writing life (by Annie Dillard)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve seen books by Annie Dillard recommended by more than one other writer whom I trust, so I put a few of her books on my wishlist, and was given a couple of them for my recent birthday. One of them was ‘The writing life’, a short book which sounded interesting. So I picked that one up to read about ten days ago.

I had thought it would have some Christian content; the author calls herself a Christian, and her books were recommended in Christian books. If not overtly so, I thought it might be a helpful, if quirky guide to writing. The blurb on the back, for instance, asks the question: ‘How do you prepare yourself, all alone, to enter an extraordinary state on an ordinary morning?’

Possibly I should have read some of Annie Dillard’s other books first. This isn’t really a guide to writing, and it doesn’t answer the question on the back. Instead, it’s somewhat random jottings about the creative process, and the struggles she has gone through. She writes, for instance, about different sheds or other private locations where she has written books.