Startle and IlluminateStartle and Illuminate

In the course of her extraordinary career, which included the novels The Stone Diaries, Larry's Party, The Republic of Love and Unless, as well as poetry, short stories, biography and plays, Carol Shields was unfailingly encouraging of other writers. She read and commented on her friends' manuscripts. She taught writing classes and she spoke and wrote on the craft of writing. Her own discipline rarely faltered. Her daily practice was to write a new page, edit the page written the day before, then repeat, until, after a year or so, her book was finished. Now comes "Startle and Illuminate, " written in Shield's own words, and destined to become as valued as Stephen King's "A Memoir of the Craft" and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird". . . (Pub)