The Writing Life

I recently re-read Annie Dillard's "The Writing Life." I first read it in college, when our journalism professor, who was really just a writer with a stubborn practical streak, made it a textbook for one of our classes. It's a short, almost ethereal book that's packed with scores of nuggets like this:
Remarkably material also is the writer's attempt to control his own energies so he can work. He must be sufficiently excited to rise himself to the task at hand, and not so excited that he cannot sit down to it.
Like a good little narcissist, I see about ten shades of me in that quote. It has that moment of recognition -- the clarity of seeing something I couldn't name be called out by someone else.

Here's another bit I loved:
One of the few 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.
It applies as aptly to life as it does to writing, does it not? We only have today.

Lord, teach us to savor each moment and to day by day with holy abandon.

16 comments:

  1. love those. love annie dillard. pilgrim at tinker creek is my favorite.

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  2. I had recently observed that also: hoarding an idea makes it die.

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  3. Those were great observations. I think I must get my hands on that book.

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  4. Hey girl! Love this post!
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    www.beccasfreshfruit.blogspot.com

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  5. That's what frustrates me so about not having as much time to write as I'd like: if I don;t get an idea down, so often it's lost :-(

    It's so bad that I pray "Lord, please help me remember that!"

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  6. Good stuff. Sounds like a great read.

    Hey, I've tagged you for a meme. Come on over to my place to see.

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  7. Wow, what great excerpts. I never cease to be amazed at how true this is:

    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.

    I constantly fight the temptation to hoard ideas because I think I might never have anything to write about ever again, yet every time, something new comes up.

    Thanks so much for posting this!

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  8. That's a good word. It'll preach! :)

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  9. Great words. Thanks for sharing them and not saving them for another day.

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  11. That first quote is pathetically autobiographial.

    I have no problem sitting down, but a huge issue with staying there. I suppose I need to work on an acceptable level of excitement.

    wahoooo!!

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  12. Much food for thought, in both writing (I mean blogging--not sure the two are one and the same) and living...

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  13. I meant "one and the same" for ME! Ha!

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  14. Could that have been Prof. Pauly?

    So strange, I just ordered that book from Amazon last week. I couldn't find my college copy and wanted to ready it again. It is ethereal isn't it? And inspiring.

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  15. Wow. I loved that quote about not saving for later-- I SO do that!! I am awful about it: "Oh, I can't use that illustration for this book because it would be so much better used in a book on XYZ subject." Clearly, I have hoarder disorder.

    Thanks for this quote-- I need to post it somewhere visible in my home!

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