My Trade Is Mystery

An invaluable companion for any writer seeking to make the writing life a more complex and cooperative venture "e;Illuminating, deeply endearing essays."e;-Ron Charles, Washington Post "e;A lovely, loving letter to aspiring writers."e;-Diego Baez, Booklist In these intimate and eloquent meditations, the award-winning poet Carl Phillips shares lessons he has learned about the writing life, an "e;apprenticeship to what can never fully be mastered."e; Drawing on forty years of teaching and mentoring emerging writers, he weaves his experiences as a poet with the necessary survival skills, including ambition, stamina, silence, politics, practice, audience, and community. In the tradition of Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, and Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, this is an invaluable companion for writers at every stage of their journey. Phillips's book serves as a partner in speculation and an invitation to embrace mystery.