""Any story that starts will also end." As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart. At the center of These Precious Days is the title essay, a surprising and moving meditation on an unexpected friendship that explores "what it means to be seen, to find someone...

"Writing is, and always will be, an act defined by failure. The best plan is to just get used to it. Failure is a topic discussed in every creative writing department in the world, but this is the book every beginning writer should have on their shelf to prepare them-which is to say, to console them in their misery. Less a guide to writing and more a guide to how to simply keep on going, On Writing and Failure: Or, On the Peculiar Perseverance Required...

Tells the story of Manhattan columnist Carrie Bradshaw's high school years, her relationships with her peers, and how she became a writer.

Long before there were creative-writing workshops and degrees, how did aspiring writers learn to write? By reading the work of their predecessors and contemporaries, says Francine Prose. In Reading Like a Writer, Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters. She reads the work of the very best writers-Dostoyevsky, Flaubert, Kafka, Austen, Dickens, Woolf, Chekhov-and discovers why their work...

An autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, an abstract expressionist artist, who acquired the largest collection of abstract expressionist paintings in private hands.

After receiving letters from fans asking for writing advice,accomplished authors Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter joined together to create this guidebook for young writers. The authors mix inspirational anecdotes with practical guidance on how to find a voice, develop characters and plot, make revisions, and overcome writer's block. Fun writing prompts will help young writers jump-start their own projects, and encouragement throughout will keep them at...

It's a planner, a to-do list, and a diary for every aspect of your life-- and Miller shows how to make a dot-journal work for you. She helps you decide how simple (or elaborate) your journal will be, and offers tips for lists, symbols, and trackers that will help you keep your life in order.