For Writers Only: Inspiring Thoughts on the Exquisite Pain and Heady Joy of the Writing Life from Its Great Practitioners

Burnham wrote this book for herself when she was in a particularly dark period, unable to get any of her work published. She wanted to know, how did the Great Masters, the immortals, do it? How did they combat discouragement, despair, rejection, dismissal, defeat? Did they write every day? What counsel and advice did they have to offer? In this book, you will discover the strange places authors have found they work best (Agatha Christie plotted her books in her bathtub, eating apples); the surprising diversions they use to escape the project they are working on (Anne Beattie used to vacuum rather than write); and why Faulkner famously asserted, "If a story is in you, it has got to come out."

The truth is that the act of being creative is a difficult-even violent-process. Whether you read this book in one gulp from cover to cover, or simply pick it and read a few pages at those times when your are blocked, you will find yourself renewed, restored, re-heartened, and ready to race back to your own writing, your creative center.