This is kind of amazing. Chip Scanlan shared a link to author Annie Dillard's essay in the New York Times about writing.
Some of you may be writing a book, I don't know. Most of you probably aren't; most of you are probably working on something for tomorrow's paper, or the next day's, or Sunday's or some Sunday down the road.
The essay is quite a read, although it would be tough for someone in a newsroom to apply Dillard's vibrant advice -- "What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon? What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?" -- day in and day out.
But there is almost certainly a piece within all of us that demands, and deserves, that kind of effort and dedication. Find it, and do it.
Thanks for sharing. Love this line:
ReplyDelete"It is no less difficult to write sentences in a recipe than sentences in 'Moby-Dick.' So you might as well write 'Moby-Dick.' "
Yeah, that's a great line. I also like the line about what would you write that wouldn't "enrage by its triviality" and the "don't waste time" quote from Michelangelo at the end. Basically, try to have something to say.
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