...some of the anecdotes in this book are over my head...I don't really understand, but perhaps I haven't been writing enough to relate to evvverything that Dillard says.
BUT I liked the example of the feral works in progress. I can definitely relate to that one. I've started stories or blog posts on one day, skipped a day, and then later scrapped the work because I just felt like I couldn't work with it anymore. It conquered me ._.
I also enjoyed the anecdote about her conversation with the ferryboat man. The first time I read through that part, I didn't quite understand. I thought it was unreasonable for her to be writing if she really hated it that much. So I ended up reading that part again. I suppose it's true, now. I've had a lot of times where I've actually had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to write something I didn't want to forget. I have random index cards with scribbles on them. I've spent hours sitting in front of the computer before, feeling terrible wondering why I was making a blog post I felt too lazy to write, but feeling compelled to see the idea on the screen anyways. Maybe these weren't the experiences that Dillard was thinking about when she wrote that part of her book. But these are the experiences that come to mind when I read that anecdote. Which goes to show, writing is incredible in that it can be understood by different people in different ways, and through it all, it can maintain its power and influence. But before all the influence, I think, the anecdote brings to light that writing is, primarily, for the person doing the writing. You write and write and write....and then, as Dillard puts it, "you die!" but the thing is the writing can't have come to nothing. Though it might not influences millions of people, or even be known by many people, there is something about the writing process itself that inexplicably affects the author personally.
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