The Writing Life

Contemporary writers address questions of craft, art, audience, and culture

Selected from thousands of pages of the daily journals of George Fetherling - the inexhaustible novelist, poet, and cultural commentator - The Writing Life reveals an astute and candid observer of his contemporaries as well as himself. Hundreds of figures in the arts and public life crisscross the pages of Fetherling's journals, from Margaret Atwood and Marshall McLuhan, to Gwendolyn MacEwen and Conrad Black. The book begins in mid-1970s Toronto, a time of cultural ferment, and carries on to Vancouver and a new century. A captivating and intimate narrative, The Writing Life provides a compelling portrait of the last three decades of Canadian cultural life. From the book: Tuesday 4 February 1992 / Toronto Early this morning the latest in a series of strange phone calls from Edmund Carpenter in New York to discuss successive versions of his Canadian Notes & Queries piece on Marshall McLuhan. He falls to reminiscing and at one point says: "Marshall always reminded me of that passage in Boswell in which Boswell says that if you chanced to take shelter from a rain storm for a few minutes in Dr Johnson's company, you would come away convinced that you had just met the smartest man in the world. Marshall was like that too. Of course, if you spent an hour with Marshall, well, that was something quite different."

The desire to create, to write, to fulfil our artistic dreams is a powerful human need. Yet the number of people who make a living solely by their pen is actually quite small. What does that mean for the rest of us, the self-described writing geeks, who are passionate about writing and who still want to sustain successful literary lives? What does it really mean to find time to build a rewarding writing life while pursuing a career, being a partner or raising a family, in the distracted, time-deprived, 21st-century? In The Geek's Guide to the Writing Life, based on her Huffington Post blog of the same name, Stephanie Vanderslice shares the secrets and tools to developing a successful, rewarding writing practice in a way that inspires the reader to persevere through the inevitable lows and even the highs of a literary life, so that anyone can pursue the path to realizing their artistic dreams.

These inspirational and practical quotes come from 500+ podcast interviews with hard-working, award-winning, and New York Times bestselling authors in more than 33 U.S. states and five countries. In Book 1, authors share their honest reflections on The Writing Life. These quotes reveal what it really feels like to be a writer. Authors quoted include David Baldacci, Therese Anne Fowler, Steve Berry, Lisa Jewell, John Hart, Sophie Cousens, Ron Rash, C.J. Box, Craig Johnson, Wylie Cash, Kristy Harvey, Brad Taylor, Charlie Lovett, Judy Goldman, Chris Fabry, Amber Smith, Tracy Clark, John Gilstrap, Kimmery Martin, A.J. Hartley, Clyde Edgerton, Jill McCorkle, Jason Mott, Mark de Castrique, Cathy Pickens, David Joy, and many more. As the late Anthony Abbott so eloquently says in this book, “Writing is not about writing, necessarily. Writing is about living. And the more deeply and fully you live, the more you are able to write.” There is hope in this book but there is also angst and humility. Case in point is a quote by New York Timesbestselling author John Hart, who says that the writing life is so unbelievably wonderful that he feels “deep down that the universe must have plans to take that all away.” It makes him work even harder on his next book. The writers quoted in these pages grab for their pens and fire up their computers for the love of writing. They have a common urge to create, to use letters, words, and sentences to tell stories, either about themselves, or others, or about characters they create in their writing chambers. They write for therapy or to understand themselves and the world around them. They write for the sake of writing. They write for publication. They write to be remembered. They write to be heard and understood. And as more than one author says, they write because they can’t not write.

Robert R. Bataille demonstrates convincingly that between 1767 and 1777, Anglo-Irish writer Hugh Kelly made major contributions in three areas of British culture: politics, journalism, and theater. Bataille shows how all three activities were integrated in Kelly s life, suggesting that such interrelationships often existed in the rough and ready London culture during the early reign of King George III.When he discovered several newspaper campaigns that Kelly orchestrated as a paid political propagandist for George III and his ministers, Bataille understood in part how important Kelly was to his era. In his capacity as propagandist, Kelly defended Hanoverian colonial policies on the eve of the American Revolution, served as a key opponent of the radical Wilkites, and promoted the acceptance of the 1774 Quebec Bill, which established, among other things, the right of the recently defeated French citizens of Quebec to maintain the French language.A belletristic journalist, Kelly published theater reviews and essays that played a major role in shaping the taste of his era. He wrote in defense of the controversial sentimental drama, and whenever he could, he promoted the major theatrical figure of the age, David Garrick. Under his editorship, the newspaper "Public Ledger" became a leading source of theater information. Seeking to raise the status of the profession of journalism, he wrote essays and articles that provided his middle-class readers with an insider s view of the operations of the journalist.Assessing Kelly s contributions to the novel and drama, Bataille argues that this powerful journalist stands in the vanguard in the larger struggle against traditional attitudes supporting male superiority and aristocratic privilege. Kelly wrote in favor of gender equality and middle-class respectability, striving to inculcate what modern scholars refer to as the values of sensibility. Bataille also argues, however, that Kelly knew his audience. Instrumental in the rise of professional writing and popular culture, he understood that he had to observe the needs of his audience, detecting cultural trends and using the skills of the rhetorician."

You¿ve got a voice the world wants to hear¿ideas that deserve to be written down and shared with others. Here¿s the book that shows you how. Packed with practical tips and techniques to help young writers build a solid foundation, this fun, easy-to-use guide is a comprehensive introduction to the world of the written word. You¿ll master essential techniques like how to generate interesting ideas, how to add descriptive detail, and how to beat writer¿s block. Plus, learn how to perform the five most important revisions, and develop other key skills you need to be a successful writer¿--or fun, for school, for college, and for life. You¿ll also be introduced to different types of writing as you learn how to craft memoirs, essays, fiction, book reviews, and more. Includes dozens of exercises and examples to get you going! Chapters1 Be a Writer2 Be a Pre-Writer3 Be a Drafter4 Be a Reviser5 Be an Editor6 Be a Publisher7 Be a Memoir Writer8 Be an Essay Writer9 Be an Editorial Writer10 Be a Fiction Writer11 Be a Book Reviewer

In this dazzling collection of essays, today's most celebrated writers explore their personal relationships with the literary life.

Do you want to write but have no idea where to start? Building a Writing Life is the beginner writer’s guide you’ve been looking for! You want to be a writer. You want to start a writing habit, share your story, and make some real progress on your writing dreams. You want to find time to write and make room in your life for everything from daily journaling to writing books and beyond. You want to build a writing life. But how do you start? Building a Writing Life is a straightforward, step-by-step guide to integrating writing into your life so you can make steady progress on your goals. Whether you write for personal reasons or dream of more commercial success, you CAN fit writing into your already busy life. With simple, actionable steps you can start taking today, this easy-to-read guide will take you from an aspiring writer to the real deal. In this book, you’ll… • Make the mental commitment to your writing dreams. • Conquer your fears and doubts to start the story of your heart. • Discover and nurture ideas. • Build a regular writing habit. • Motivate yourself to write on days when you don’t feel like it. • Find and make room in your schedule, even if there’s no time to write. • Battle distractions and be productive with your writing time. • Discover your ideal writing circumstances by thinking outside the textbox. • Fine-tune your writing process by setting better goals and embracing what works for you. … and, most important of all… • Become a writer at last!

The first biography of Shirley Hazzard, the author of The Transit of Venus and a writer of “shocking wisdom” and “intellectual thrill” (The New Yorker). Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life tells the extraordinary story of a great modern novelist. Brigitta Olubas, Hazzard’s authorized biographer, has drawn, with great subtlety and understanding, on her fiction (itself largely based on Hazzard’s own experience); on an extensive archive of letters, diaries, and notebooks; and on the memories of surviving friends and colleagues to create this resonant portrait of an exceptional woman. This biography explores the distinctive times of Hazzard’s life, from her youth and middle age to her widowhood and years of decline, and traces the complex and intricate processes of self-fashioning that lay beneath Hazzard’s formidable, beguiling presence. Olubas shows us the places of Hazzard’s life, of which she wrote with characteristic lyricism: her childhood in Depression-era Sydney; her youth in postwar Hong Kong, New Zealand, and London; her years in New York in the 1950s, working at the United Nations and The New Yorker. Olubas also describes Hazzard’s long marriage to the writer Francis Steegmuller and their deep involvement in postwar Naples and Capri. Rare photographs from Hazzard’s collection and elsewhere accompany the text. Hazzard was the last of a generation of selftaught writers, devotees of a great literary tradition, and her depth of perception and expressive gifts have earned her iconic status. Brigitta Olubas has brought her brilliantly alive, enhancing and deepening our understanding of the singular woman who created some of the most enduring fiction of the past sixty years. As Dwight Garner wrote in The New York Times, “Hazzard’s stories feel timeless because she understands, as she writes in one of them: ‘We are human beings, not rational ones.’” Here, in Shirley Hazzard, is the story of a remarkable human being.

Mit einem Vorwort von Oprah Winfrey Mit dem Gedicht »The Hill We Climb – Den Hügel hinauf«, das Amanda Gorman am 20. Januar 2021 bei der Inauguration des 46. Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Joe Biden, vortrug, schenkte eine junge Lyrikerin den Menschen auf der ganzen Welt eine einzigartige Botschaft der Hoffnung und Zuversicht. Am 20. Januar 2021 wurde die erst zweiundzwanzigjährige Amanda Gorman zur sechsten und jüngsten Dichterin, die bei der Vereidigung eines US-amerikanischen Präsidenten ein Gedicht vortrug. »The Hill We Climb – Den Hügel hinauf« ist jetzt in der autorisierten zweisprachigen Fassung als kommentierte Sonderausgabe erhältlich.

Contributors include: Basho, Will Campbell, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Donald Hall, Ron Hansen, Jane Kenyon, Jamaica Kincaid, Barry Lopez, Kathleen Norris, Henry David Thoreau, John Updike, E.B. White and many others.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

How turning writing into a habit is the best tool an author can possess.

With recent advances in digital technology, a number of exciting and innovative approaches to writing lives have emerged, from graphic memoirs to blogs and other visual-verbal-virtual texts. This edited collection is a timely study of new approaches to writing lives, including literary docu-memoir, autobiographical cartography, social media life writing and autobiographical writing for children. Combining literary theory with insightful critical approaches, each essay offers a serious study of innovative forms of life writing, with a view to reflecting on best practice and offering the reader practical guidance on methods and techniques. Offering a range of practical exercises and an insight into cutting-edge literary methodologies, this is an inspiring and thought-provoking companion for students of literature and creative writing studying courses on life writing, memoir or creative non-fiction.

"He wants to sit and visit at the kitchen table, and he can hardly wait to get on the road again." —From Chapter 1 Robert Kroetsch, one of Canada's most important writers, was a fierce regionalist with a porous yet resilient sense of "home." Although his criticism and fiction have received extensive attention, his poetry remains underexplored. This exuberantly polyvocal text, insightfully written by dennis cooley—who knew Kroetsch and worked with him for decades—seeks to correct that imbalance. The Home Place offers a dazzling, playful, and intellectually complex conversation drawing together personal recollections, Kroetsch's archival materials, and the international body of Kroetsch scholarship. For literary scholars and anyone who appreciates Canadian literature, The Home Place will represent the standard critical evaluation of Kroetsch's poetry for years to come.

A candid and inspiring anthology exploring the joys and frustrations of being a writer. In this compilation of essays by renowned writers from Joseph Conrad to Gail Godwin, therapist and expert on creativity Mark Waldman offers a rare glimpse into the inner world of the writer. Here is a wealth of valuable insight on matters both practical and emotional: from Janet Fitch on how she kept her creativity alive before her novel won Oprah's seal of approval, to Anne Lamott on the difficulty of first drafts, to Octavio Paz on the mystery and language of words. These elegant meditations on what it means to be a person who writes offer comfort and inspiration for the countless writers who struggle each day to put words down on paper.

A guide to rekindling spiritual inspiration after betrayal and disillusionment • Explains why we are drawn to charismatic leaders, what we unconsciously give away to them, and how to reclaim our inner spiritual authority • Explores how to recover from spiritual abuse or betrayal by a teacher or group, including breaking free of denial, projection, and dependency using psychology and shadow-work • Extends #MeToo into the spiritual domain and tells the stories of contemporary clergy and spiritual leaders who acted out their shadows in destructive ways, leaving their followers traumatized and lost Within each of us is a spiritual longing that prompts us to unite with something greater than ourselves, to awaken to our unity with all of life. Yet, no matter the spiritual path we choose, we inevitably encounter our own shadow, those unconscious aspects of ourselves that we suppress or deny, or the shadows of our teachers and their secret desires about money, sex, and power. Meeting the shadow can derail the journey but, according to Connie Zweig, Ph.D., we can learn to recover from loss of faith and move from spiritual naiveté to spiritual maturity. Calling on us to expand our vision of religious and spiritual life—and our vision of awakening—to include the human shadow, Zweig examines the yearning that sets us on the path, showing how it can lead to ecstatic, transcendent experiences or to terrible suffering by projecting it onto an authoritarian teacher, priest, or guru who abuses power. She tells the stories of renowned teachers—Sufi poet Rumi, Hindu master Ramakrishna, and Christian saint Catherine of Siena—whose lives unfolded as they followed their spiritual yearning. And she tells the cautionary tales of contemporary teachers of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Catholicism, who acted out their shadows in devastating ways, leaving their followers traumatized and lost. She explains how meeting the shadow is a painful but inevitable stage on the path to a more mature spirituality. She describes how to use spiritual shadow-work to separate from abusive teachers, reclaim inner spiritual authority, and heal from betrayal. With guidance for both inspired seekers and disillusioned seekers, the author explores how to navigate the narrow path through the darkness toward the light, rekindle the flame of longing, and once again engage spiritual practice.