by Joan Didion

The Salon Interview: Joan Didion
Read this interview with Joan Didion in which she discusses her novel The Last Thing He Wanted and how her writing process has changed throughout her career. What have you noticed about your own writing process and the sort of environment, tools, and methods that enable you to write your best work? With your classmates, create a poster of words and images dedicated to "the writing process."

Excerpts from Why I Write
In these excerpts from Joan Didion's essay "Why I Write," the author characterizes writing as an "aggressive, even a hostile act." She goes on to explain that she is not a thinker but a writer. Respond to these concepts about the art of writing in the Web Links Activity Log.