Anne Dillard’s writing is breathtaking. Her For the Time Being is one of the best books I’ve ever read—a masterpiece in form and detail. Her writing on writing is no exception.

Nothing is particularly novel in Dillard’s writing guide. She covers the same ground as many other such as the necessity of routine and the need for a clear-eyed understanding of your work. But in Dillard’s prose, metaphors sing. Routine is more than drudgery, it is a defense from “chaos and whim, … a net for catching days” (32). The thought that your work is either magnificent or abominable are “mosquitoes to be repelled, ignored, or killed, but not indulged” (15).

Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is Dillard’s ability to tell a compelling story like the life of stunt pilot Dave Rahm or the value of proper wood-splitting technique. The point of the story remains opaque until, with deft turn phrase, the connection to her craft is made. Dillard doesn’t hold her reader’s hands, but trusts them to put the pieces together.

The Writing Life is full of wisdom from one of the best American writers of the nineteenth century. It’s a book worth reading more than once.

Dillard, Anne. The Writing Life. Harper & Row, 1989.