This is a collection of twelve essays on writing and creating, plus an interview and a revelation of how this writer views her own writing self. This is not another how-to book on mechanics (grammar, syntax, usage, etc.) but it is a collection of author's insights and opinions on the joy of writing. The author talks about the way how her running is tied to her writing, her numerous experiences with creating, and the way she spends time watching the outdoors from a window near her desk. She tells anecdotes from her life together with those from other authors' lives. She even talks about the virtues of failure and its positive results, focusing on the soul and the process of creating rather than the details.

finding encouragement to write and gaining faith in one's own pen.

her sharing stories from her life like the one-room schoolhouse she attended, also the sections where she talks about Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson.

read it again.

Joyce Carol Oates started her writing career when she was given a typewriter at age fourteen. Since then, she has written some of the most brilliant novels, stories and essays. Some of her works are: Big Mouth & Ugly Girl, The Tattooed Girl : A Novel, On Boxing, Freaky Green Eyes, Expensive People, Wonderland, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, A Garden of Earthly Delights, Them, Beasts, Faithless: Tales of Transgression, Broke Heart Blues, We Were The Mulvaneys, Black Water, Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My Heart. She has received the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers of America and is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She works as a Professor at Princeton University and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

it is written by an author with literary expertise and passion for writing who gives a wonderfully encouraging pat in the back to each self-doubting writer. Moreover, this book is a delight to read.

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Created Jan 04, 2004 at 10:04pm • Submit your own review...