The Writer's Journal - Softcover

Bender, Sheila

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385315104 ISBN 13: 9780385315104

Publisher: Delta, 1996

Synopsis

Forty award-winning writers reveal the elements of the creative writing process through excerpts from their private journals, illuminating how they record what they observe and how their thoughts and observations end up in their work. Original.

About this title

Review:

The Writer's Journal offers a fascinating look at the creative mind at work. Forty contemporary authors of varying degrees of renown display the private pages of their writer's journals, accompanied by their own discussion of the journal's role in the writing process. Some of the contributors keep separate journals for each of their writing projects, while others prefer letter writing as a form of journal keeping. Still others prefer the scrap method: "My journal those years," admits fiction writer Ron Carlson, "had been a large Z.C.M.I. shopping bag which by that August was full of half a bushel of little papers on which I had scribbled: envelopes, folded memos, torn slips, wedding announcements, rodeo programs and such." For a couple of writers, such as poet Stanley Plumly, "the very idea of the journal is a dissipation of energies better spent on the work itself"; even still, says Plumly, "the changes I make, the rewrites, the editings, they are my journal." Nearly all of the writers agree that the aggregation of material and freedom of speech afforded by keeping a journal is invaluable. Denise Levertov finds that "The value of the notebook is in the way writing such things down deepens our experience of them," while Kyoko Mori uses journal entries "as a visual artist might use pencil sketches or snapshots." Lisa Shea's journal is "where I tell the truth, and the place where I fashion lies." And Ilan Stavans's journal is "simultaneously an agenda, a loyal therapist, a creative notebook, and a confessional pulpit."

From Kirkus Reviews:

Bender, a playwright, essayist, and poet, offers an exciting foray into the inner workings of the writer's mind by focusing on the ubiquitous writer's journal. Here Bender presents excerpts from the journals of 40 talented contemporary writers along with their thoughts on the process of keeping journals. Some, like Brenda Hillman and Naomi Shihab Nye, are longtime, insatiable journalists. Many here, however, admit that their journal-keeping habits are ``sporadic'' (Israel Horowitz) and limited to notions they can't live without (Jim Harrison). A few are even ``journal writers by default, brought to it kicking and screaming'' (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni). Some of the journals, like Ron Carlson's, are bits and scraps of paper collected in a shopping bag or file folder for future reference. Other authors (Pam Houston, Janice Eidus) find that they can't write as well for themselves as they can for good friends or lovers, so they keep copies of their letters in lieu of the traditional diary. But as much as they differ in their journal-keeping habits, almost all of these writers agree on the importance of keeping notes that they can later access as a spur to their creativity. Many of the authors provide tangible proof of the journals' muselike aspects: Linda Bierds's journal is a step-by-step guide to her wonderful poem ``White Bears: Tolstoy at Astapovo,'' which is reprinted here; Patricia Hampl presents a long excerpt from her memoir Virgin Time, in which a short journal entry is cited in full and to marvelous effect. And for those of us who would like to keep journals but don't know how to begin, Al Young offers 21 journal-keeping ideas that give a good push in the right direction. All writers, aspiring writers, and even just serious readers will be moved to pick up that ratty old diary and start scribbling again. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Delta
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0385315104
• ISBN 13: 9780385315104
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400