"
Featuring
a gathering of more than fifty of contemporary literature's finest
voices, this volume will enchant, move, and inspire readers with its
tales of The Writing Life.
In it, authors divulge professional secrets: how they first discovered
they were writers, how they work, how they deal with the myriad
frustrations and delights a writer's life affords. Culled from ten years
of the distinguished Washington Post column of the same name, The Writing Life
highlights an eclectic group of luminaries who have wildly varied
stories to tell, but who share this singularly beguiling career. Here
are their pleasures as well as their peeves; revelations of their
deepest fears; dramas of triumphs and failures; insights into the
demands and rewards. Each piece is accompanied by a brief and vivid biography of the writer by Washington Post Book World
editor Marie Arana, who also provides an introduction to the collection.
The result is a rare view from the inside: a close examination of
writers' concerns about the creative process and the place of literature
in America. For anyone interested in the making of fiction and
nonfiction, here is a fascinating vantage on the writer's world—an
indispensable guide to the craft."