On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

King is, “lying in the ditch and there’s blood all over my face and my right leg hurts […] my lap now appears to be on sideways” (256). Smith assures King that help is on the way, and King passes out again. A medic attends to him and brings him to Northern Cumberland Hospital. His injuries are so extensive that King is helicoptered to Central Maine Medical Center. On the flight, his lung collapses. After he is transferred to the Medical Center, there is “a great big whack taken out of the memory-film” (261).

King lists the injuries he sustains: lower leg broken in nine places, right knee split down the middle, hip fractured, spine chipped, four ribs broken, and scalp lacerated.

Bryan Smith is charged with “driving to endanger” and “aggravated assault” (262). He pleads to the lesser charges and receives six months of a suspended jail sentence and a year’s suspension of his license.

King details the beginning of his recovery process in this chapter. It begins with “five marathon surgical procedures” on his leg (263). On June 25th, he gets up for the first time to walk to the commode. He then begins physical therapy, and on July 4th is able to sit up in a wheelchair. He is released from the hospital on July 9th. When he enters the hospital, he weighs 216 pounds; he is down to 165 pounds on release. On July 24th, he begins to write again.

In July, King begins resumes composing On Writing. He had begun the project in 1997 and set it aside. In July of 1999, he “didn’t want to get back to work” due to the pain and not knowing how the memoir would progress (266).

However, he decides to start again, and Tabby sets up a writing station for him in the back hall. His first session is an hour and forty minutes. He keeps going, and “the words started coming a little faster after awhile, then a little faster still” (268). He continues his practice, though it is difficult.

In this final chapter, King asserts that, “things have continued to get better” (269). At times, “writing is a pretty grim slog,” but at others times, things fall into place (269). He reaffirms the ways in which writing has made his life better. He leaves the reader with the statement that writing is “the water of life […] The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up” (270).

King also includes And Furthermore, Part I and Part II. Part I gives two examples of “The Hotel Story,” one an early copy, and the second revised with line edits. Part II contains a reading list of books “that worked for [him]” (285).