"On Being a Writer" is a collection of 31 interviews taken from the pages of "Writer's Digest" magazine from 1961 to 1989. The focus of these conversations is not only on the technical aspects of writing which may prove instructional to the aspiring writing, but also the preferences and passions that can inspire readers to admit that writing is what they want to do with the rest of their lives. As Harlan Ellison says in the introduction to this book: "You're a writer. And that's something better than being a millionaire. Because it's something holy."Within these pages you will find novelists, short story writers, playwrights, poets, and journalists. In fact, a simple list of the writers interviewed should be sufficient to have you hunt this book down and check it out: Raymond Carver, Ernest Hemingway, Marsha Norman, Red Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Ray Bradbury, Erica Jong, Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee, Madeleine L'Engle, Nikki Giovanni, James Michner, Jean Auel, William Saroyan, Truman Capote, Joseph Wambaugh, Irving Stone, Ellen Goodman, Kurt Vonnegut (twice), William Faulkner, Rod Serling, May Sarton, Arthur Kopit, Jay McInerney, Norman Mailer, James Dickey, Carolyn Chute, Rod McKuen, Joseph Heller, Tom Robbins and John Steinbeck. Actually, that last one is not an interview; rather it is a letter from Steinbeck addressed "Dear Writer," which reminds us "A story has to convey something from writer to reader, and the power of its offering is the measure of its excellence."
Within these pages you will find comments on imagery, books becoming famous, style, rewriting, discipline, reportage, caring, and other precious hints of how successful writers work through the challenges of their craft. Hopefully, when you finish reading this book, you will get back to doing some serious writing yourself.
