Every Day I Write the Book: Notes on Style

Description

Amitava Kumar's Every Day I Write the Book is for academic writers what Annie Dillard's The Writing Life and Stephen King's On Writing are for creative writers. Alongside Kumar's interviews with an array of scholars whose distinct writing offers inspiring examples for students and academics alike, the book's pages are full of practical advice about everything from how to write criticism to making use of a kitchen timer. Communication, engagement, honesty: these are the aims and sources of good writing. Storytelling, attention to organization, solid work habits: these are its tools. Kumar's own voice is present in his essays about the writing process and in his perceptive and witty observations on the academic world. A writing manual as well as a manifesto, Every Day I Write the Book will interest and guide aspiring writers everywhere. Dedication Contents Introduction. The 90-Day Book Part I. Self-Help Misery Good Sentences Read No Secondary Literature Read Junk Failure Running Sleep Kitchen Timer Self-Help Part II. Writing a Book: A Brief History Rules of Writing In Memory of Out of Place Eyes on the Ground The End of the Line Creative Criticism How to Throw Your Body I’m Feeling Myself Creative Writing Part III. Credos Declarations of Independence In Praise of Nonfiction ThereIs No Single Way How Proust Can Ruin Your Life RealityHunger Depend on Your Dumbness Blackness (Unmitigated) Rage on the Page On Training Part IV. Form Light Years Neither/Nor Criticism by Other Means Paranoid Theory Erotic Style I Blame the Topic Sentence The Sound and the Fury In Defense of the Fragment Kids Part V. Academic Interest Diana Studies Examined Life Occupy Writing Academic Sentence Dissertation Blah Your Job Is to Know a Lot Terminology Anti-AntiJargon Monograph Part VI. Style But Life Sugared Violets Voice Wikileaks Manual of Style Detecting Style Strunk and White A Clean EnglishSentence Trade Recommendation Le Part VII. Exercises Bad Writing Prompt Post-Its Revising Editing Performing It Rituals For GraduateStudents Not Writing Part VIII. The Groves of Academe Academe Stoner Common Sense Titles Campus Criticism Farther Away Accountability Tenure Files Journals Part IX. Materials Photographs,etc. “Who’s Got the Address?” (A Collaboration with Teju Cole) Acknowledgments Appendix A: Ten Rules of Writing Appendix B: PEN Ten Interview Notes Index