2014 was the year I realized my love for language and my fascination with how it can be crafted and constructed. This was the year I realized that my desire to spend hours in the library voraciously reading was not merely a hobby. This was the same year that I looked back upon countless journals with renewed interest. And it was the same year that I realized my most used app was the one for Dictionary.com.
So I began this blog, admittedly with no clear direction, but truly with one goal: to write and to write well. I cannot say with one hundred percent certainty whether I have met this goal, but I can honestly say I am enjoying the process. And I look forward to continuing this process into 2015.
To recap the year, I decided to share a few articles and books that greatly contributed to my realization. These works dutifully detail the craft of writing and reading in a way that I hope inspires others.
I regrettably stumbled upon the “By Heart” series mid-way through 2014. I say regrettably simply because I am upset for not discovering it sooner. Each month The Atlantic featured interviews from prominent authors detailing their love for the craft of writing, all the while bestowing wisdom for us to dwell upon and hopefully put to good use, as these authors certainly managed to do.
Fortunately, The Atlantic was privy to the fact that there would be readers only recently discovering the series, so they’ve provided a summary for 2014. The summary, “How to Write: A Year in Advice from David Mitchell, Yiyun Li, and More,” included highlights from interviews, each of which is humorously enlightening and effortlessly inspiring. The authors so graciously provided insight into their writing habits and philosophies, which not only benefits aspiring writers, but anyone looking for greater insight into the complexities of language and critical thinking.
Towards the end of 2014 I also had the pleasure of reading Stephen King’s On Writing, in which he detailed his experiences with publishing and shared his wisdom on the process of crafting stories. He managed to convey powerfully inspiring information in such an upbeat, casual tone, that it felt as if you were receiving a private lesson right in your living room. For those interested in the process of writing, King’s On Writing comes highly recommended.
On the same note, avid readers and those aiming to read more critically (in hopes of bettering their own writing) should also try Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer. This book comes riddled with passages from acclaimed works presented in a critically engaging manner. She delves into essays by Virginia Woolf and novels by James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, among others, to explain their exceptional use of literary concepts.
It is evident that the works of these selected authors genuinely fascinate Prose, and her earnestness carries the reader through to the books conclusion. She gives us the tools to recognize their prowess; whether we can replicate them as poignantly is another story.
Literary Grace. 