Response for The Writing Life

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Annie Dillard’s book about writing. She described her experience of the writing process with such a depth of detail and striking comparisons, and many of her passages, especially her description of the little sparrow mirroring the patterns of the stunt pilot, were constructed with rich imagery and beautiful diction that they seemed almost poetic.

There were so many insightful bits of wisdom about the writing process throughout the entire book, but the two passages that resonated with me the most were in the fifth chapter. On page 72, Dillard asks the question “Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power?” I really enjoyed the way that this quotation addresses the motivations and goals of both the reader and the writer. It was a good reminder for me to think about some of the reasons why people read and to keep some of those reasons in mind when I write my own fiction.

Another passage that was really helpful to me was the quotation on page 78. Dillard says, “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.” That piece of advice is one I would really like to mirror in my own writing process. I often feel that impulse to save an idea, an image, a piece of dialogue etc. for later on in case I need it somewhere else or in case I can’t think of any better ideas later. I really like Dillard’s advice about using everything you have when you have it instead of saving it, trusting that something even better will come along later when you need it. It’s hard to do that, but I know that if I try to follow that pattern, it will help to make my writing stronger.