Thursday, February 3, 2011

Annie Dillard, on Writing


“The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring.  It is the sensation of a stunt pilot's turning barrel rolls, or an inchworm's blind rearing from a stem in search of a route.  At its worst, it feels like alligator wrestling, at the level of the sentence.  At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace.  It is handed to you, but only if you look for it.  You search, you break your fists, your back, your brain, and thenand only thenit is handed to you.”  Annie Dillard.


3 comments:

  1. I'm waiting for that good sensation....a writer, I am not. Thank goodness blogging is worlds different than book writing!

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  2. That is an excellent description of the emotions of writing! Are you wrestling alligators and doing barrel rolls? Is your brain broken? Hang on.
    LDB

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  3. LDB, I'm wrestling alligators. I'm in the editing phase, where I feel like I'm cutting out as much as I'm writing, so it doesn't feel like making progress. But my brain is not broken, not any more than usual.

    Rhonda, I agree about the blogging world! It's like hanging out with friends.

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