| Description |
xix, 257 pages ; 22 cm |
| Summary |
Why write when it sometimes feels that so few people really read--read as if their lives might be changed by what they're reading? Why write, when the world wants to be informed, not enlightened; to be entertained, not inspired? Writing is backbreaking, mindbreaking, lonely work. So why? Because writing, as celebrated professor Mark Edmundson explains, is one of the greatest human goods. Real writing can do what critic R. P. Blackmur said it could: add to the stock of available reality. Writing teaches us to think; it can bring our minds to birth. And once we're at home with words, there are few more pleasurable human activities than writing. Because this is something he believes everyone ought to know, Edmundson offers us Why Write?, essential reading--both practical and inspiring--for anyone who yearns to be a writer, anyone who simply needs to know how to get an idea across, and anyone in between--in short, everyone. |
| Contents |
Why write? -- Getting started -- To catch a dream -- To do it every day -- The new writer -- To have written -- To get the girl / To get the guy -- To make some money -- To get even -- To strengthen the mind -- To grow -- To fail -- To change the world -- Hitting your stride: perils and pleasures -- To drink -- To get reviewed -- To learn to be alone -- To read as a writer -- To do something -- To hold your peace -- Pleasures and perils -- To learn something -- To stay sane -- To see what happens next -- To find your medium -- To skip writing the great American novel -- To find beauty and truth -- The writer's wisdom -- To mine a fresh experience -- To beat the clock (a little) -- To stop revising -- To remember -- To get better as you get older -- To draw a constellation -- To have the last word. |
| Subject |
English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching.
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Creative writing -- Study and teaching.
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LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Composition & Creative Writing.
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EDUCATION -- Essays.
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Creative writing -- Study and teaching. (OCoLC)fst00882503
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English language -- Rhetoric -- Study and teaching.
(OCoLC)fst00911595
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| Other Form: |
Online version: Edmundson, Mark, 1952- author. Why write? New York : Bloomsbury USA, 2016 9781632863065 (DLC) 2016012593 |
| ISBN |
9781632863058 (hardback) |
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1632863057 (hardback) |
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