Dillard Discussion Questions

1. Dillard’s process to achieve her “writerly” state of mind would put me over the top. Her recipe for success would have me squirming in my seat with a whirlwind of discombobulated thought in my head. For me to write well, or for that matter do anything involving some serious thought, my most productive state requires a balance between an energized mind and a calm, relaxed, and content physical being.
If I’m too tired, or too excited, I have a hard time sitting still and being productive. If I’m too excited my thoughts will wonder and I’ll not focus very well on the task at hand. Conversely, if I’m too tired there will be an absence of creative thought. So, I may have a cup of coffee to get myself going but usually the way for me to write the best is to simply choose my timing. Like Dillard refers to, it is often a waste of time to try and force writing. If I’m not in the right frame of mind or physical position I’ll need to wait for another time. Hopefully, an impending assignment does not force me to do otherwise!

2. I do not often “knock down bearing walls” when I write. I think this is largely because I don’t have to. The vast majority of my writing, thus far, has been for school. I don’t feel, at least in the classes I take for the major I pursue, that I’m necessarily encouraged to (or rewarded for) breaking down walls. Doing the safe and familiar thing when writing for the average college class is, I think, what generally gets a student good grades. Breaking down walls and going beyond one’s comfort level in writing takes a writer into the realm of the unknown, which is something most people would consistently avoid, if possible. Therefore I think most walls are constructed by the writer, but there are rarely incentives to bust through them.

3. I enjoyed and related to her inchworm metaphor for writing. “Few sights are so absurd as that of an inchworm leading its dimwit life”. That’s funny, depressing, and quite often how I feel about my writing process, all in one! Like I say below it’s a bumbling relationship, me and writing; blindly trying to find my way through a paragraph, attempting to make some meaning of it; to bring some life to it. Metaphors are useful in this sense, but not particularly inspiring. I think I’d rather focus on things that can help me with the process and help me more proficiently achieve my goal.

4. I think the mysticism that Dillard expresses in her writing is a luxury resulting from confidence and experience of years of successful prose. Mysticism, to me, implies a “go-with-the-flow, good things will come” approach to writing. I don’t think that works for me. To get a decent sentence on a page, and to link a few together, is for me a bumbling and awkward process. I have little feel for what will make a good piece of writing, or what steps I can take to insure a likeable outcome. So… Maybe I have talked a full circle around this topic now, as what I just described does seem to imply an element of mysticism! Mysticism in the sense that, at the start of a page, I have no idea what it will take to create that page of writing. Nor, when that page is finished, do I really have any better of an understanding of what it took.

5. I noticed that Dillard’s prose is, although complex and superb, often quite light-hearted. I like that. I may be constructing this thought for my own benefit, but when I read her writing it feels as if she’s almost poking fun at the person that takes her, or anyone’s, writing too seriously. I think she maintains vagueness in her writing on writing because, like any hard-won skill, there is no blueprint for writing. As one of the best she can inspire ideas or impart wisdom, but she cannot effectively write a “how-to” manual for good writing. It is such an individual process that to try and do so would be futile. She communicates the techniques and tricks that seem to work for her; however, she stops short of telling the reader that to follow her lead will necessarily elicit great writing. Besides, to do so would be to write a text book on the topic, and how many text books are entertaining to read?