Available as Hardback, eBook, Downloadable audio
A collection of meditations, essays and practical tips on creativity and the craft of writing, by the New York Times bestselling writer
‘How I wish I’d had access to this book when I was first starting out as a writer! Maggie Smith has created an offering here of great substance and generosity — walking writers of all levels through the sometimes wild and terrifying landscape of literary endeavour’ ELIZABETH GILBERT
Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience, bestselling writing career and popular newsletter, in Dear Writer Maggie Smith breaks down the craft of writing and creativity into ten essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection and hope.
Each element is explored through short, inspiring and focused essays on everything from writing habits to word choice, white space and redrafting. Throughout, Maggie offers practical writing prompts and generative activities that apply to the area of focus and sharpen creative skills. Dear Writer provides tools that artists of all experience levels can apply to their own creative practices and carry with them into all genres and all areas of life.
“How I wish I’d had access to this book when I was first starting out as a writer! Maggie Smith has created an offering here of great substance and generosity — walking writers of all levels through the sometimes wild and terrifying landscape of literary endeavour”
Elizabeth Gilbert
See more reviews
“Every so often, a book comes along that fundamentally changes how we think about art, and the lives and work of writers and artists both seasoned and new. Dear Writer is this book, and anyone who strives to put pen to paper will be profoundly changed by it and by Maggie Smith’s creative clarity, generosity and heart. This is a book that is meant to be savoured, and read again and again. I absolutely loved it”
Elissa Altman
“Revelatory … [Smith] has much to teach all writers … Tips for every writing eventuality, from revising drafts to silencing the inner critic”
tls
“This guide on craft is an open, thoughtful gold mine of advice for writers and nonwriters alike. Filled with breakdowns of Smith’s own poems, as well as exercises and suggested outside reading, these pages invite you to reference their knowledge over and over, for a lifetime”
Christina Cala
”Praise for Maggie Smith: ‘As beautiful and lyrical as they come”
red
Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Lamp of the Body, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison and Keep Moving. Her newest book is My Thoughts Have Wings, her debut picture book for children, illustrated by Leanne Hatch. Smith’s poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Paris Review, TIME, Nation, Atlantic and Best American Poetry.
@MaggieSmithPoet | maggiesmithpoet.com