Dear Writer: Pep Talks Practical Advice for the Creative Life [Hardcover]

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

New York Timesbestselling author and poet Maggie Smith distills creativity and the craft of writing with a practical guide perfect for fans ofElizabeth Gilbert’sBig Magicand Anne Lamott’sBird by Bird.

Drawing from her twenty years of teaching experience and her bestselling Substack newsletter,For Dear Life, Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements: attention, wonder, vision, play, surprise, vulnerability, restlessness, tenacity, connection, and hope. Each element is explored through short, inspiring, and craft-focused essays, followed by generative writing prompts.Dear Writerprovides 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.Maggie Smith is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of nine books of poetry and prose, including A Suit or a Suitcase, You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings.  She has been widely published, appearing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more. She is the host ofThe Slowdown. You can find her on social media @MaggieSmithPoet."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 savorló×