Annie Dillard's Lesson: Writing Is Work

Following Annie Dillard's death, Defector staffers reflect on how her insistence that writing is work (not talent) and her awe-inspiring prose—especially in Total Eclipse and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek—shaped their craft, aided by Alexander Chee's memories of her teaching to write as oneself and to 'spend it all' in the act of writing; the piece argues Dillard's precise language and fearless perception remain a tonic against jadedness and a guide to seeing the world anew.