The writing life / Ellen Gilchrist.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gilchrist, Ellen, 1935-2024.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gilchrist, Ellen, 1935-.

Gilchrist, Ellen.

Authors, American--20th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Creative writing (Higher education).

Authorship.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 211 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2005]

Summary:

Celebrated author Ellen Gilchrist has played many roles-writer and speaker, wife and lover, mother and grandmother. But she never tackled the role of teacher.

Offered the opportunity to teach creative writing at the University of Arkansas, she took up the challenge and ventured into unknown territory. In the process of teaching more than two hundred students since her first class in 2000, she has found inspiration in their lives and ambitions, and in the challenge of conveying to them the lessons she has learned from living and writing.

The Writing Life brings together fifty essays and vignettes centered on the transforming magic of literature and the teaching and writing of it. A portion of the collection discusses the delicate balance between an artistic life and family commitments, especially the daily pressures and frequent compromises faced by a young mother. Gilchrist next focuses on the process of writing itself with essays ranging from "How I Wrote a Book of Short Stories in Three Months" to "Why Is Rewriting So Hard?"

Several essays discuss her appreciation of other writers, from Shakespeare to Larry McMurtry, and the lessons she learned from them. Eudora Welty made an indelible impact on Gilchrist's work. When Gilchrist takes on the task of teaching, her essays reveal an enriched understanding of the role writing plays in any life devoted to the craft. Humorous and insightful, she assesses her own abilities as an instructor and confronts the challenge of inspiring students to attain the discipline and courage to pursue the sullen art. Some of these pieces have been previously published in magazines, but most are unpublished and all appear here in book form for the first time.

Contents:

Part 1 Life

The Middle Way 3

The Shakespeare Group 13

How Books Still Change Our Lives 18

Casting My Lot with the Gypsies 24

The Consolations of Art 36

The Only Constant Is Change, and Yet, I Still Won't Use a Computer 39

How I Got Stronger and Smarter Instead of Stupider and Sadder 43

Part 2 Writing

How I Wrote a Book of Short Stories in Three Months 53

Living in New York City 58

The Sinking Ship 65

Breaking the Rules 69

In the Weather of the Heart 72

A Writer Should Be Able to Write Anything 75

Everyone Wants to Be a Writer 78

"You Always Use Setbacks to Help You Play Better" 80

Write What You Know 84

Choosing the Books 89

Learning to Teach Writing by Watching a Great Dance Teacher 92

Crisis in the Creative Writing Program 96

Everyone Thinks They Are a Writer 99

Why Is Rewriting So Hard? 102

Sunday Morning 105

Eudora Welty 110

Another Hard Thing for a Writer to Learn to Handle 113

How I Invented Traceleen 119

How to Move Characters from One Place to Another 122

How to Become Inspired 126

Decons 130

Learning to Teach 133

The War with the Squirrels 135

What They Write About 138

Part 3 Teaching

Teaching, A Journal 145

Teaching, A Journal (Continued) 147

My Third Year 152

Worrying 155

Students 162

The Ice Storm 164

Creative Nonfiction (as Fiction) 167

The Semester from Hell 171

Drunks, Dope Addicts, and Losers, Characters My Students Give Me 173

How Can I Help These Students Learn to Write? 178

Onward 180

Hitting a Snag in the Teaching Game 183

Rip Van Winkle and the Unwanted Wings 186

Teaching, A Journal (Continued) 190

After Six Weeks of Classes 195

The Geology Field Trip 200

Monday at Dawn 204

The Big Question 205

The Tar Baby 208.

ISBN:

1578067391