Annie Dillard

I did consider writing a long and intriguing post on Annie Dillard, but I've found that long posts are not necessarily better than short ones and bullet points are more direct and unlike Dillard, I enjoy being direct. So here's what I think.
1. Why does the beginning of chapter four say "Sorry to tell you a dream!" in all caps? Super random.
2. Too. Many. Metaphors. I'm a poet, I love extended metaphors. But a whole book of them? Holy cow.
3. I agree that it is crucial to have a place without distraction. By this, I mean it is probably also crucial to have a place without internet, since that's a pretty significant distraction for me. Dillard has a point because it's so easy for our minds to wander when we're frustrated and we really need to work. HOWEVER the thing about creative writing is that sometimes we live off of distractions. When I was little, I'd think up stories while playing solitaire or make up songs in my head while riding the bus, and I still do that. I walk downtown (about an hour and a half walk, depending on where exactly I'm going) and I observe the entertaining ads on metro busses and the pretty mini-parks by those rivers I never realized existed and cute old couples with ridiculous jackets they probably bought thirty years ago, and then I find a random bench (or just sit down on the sidewalk/grass if a bench is not to be found) and I think of things. I guess this works better in poetry because you can write a poem in a sitting, but I'd say it's important for stories too because stories require creativity and creativity generally requires inspiration. I guess what's important is that you're not in a place that is mundane to you, which is kind of the opposite of what Dillard says. My laptop at home is on a desk, and it is always a mess and there are Hamomi flyers for internship and sheet music for solo ensemble and my journal from spain and lip balm and a nail file and orange sapphire lotion but mostly lots and lots of papers, and even though each of them has a significance to me, the place is mundane because I am here every day, any time I use a computer, which is a lot. If I am at a park or inside a mall or sitting on the sidewalk, even if it's a place I go frequently, it's always changing and the people and items there are not just my possessions, they are not things I get bored of seeing.
4. She moved from Virginia to Washington. Like my parents/me. But not my siblings. Also my parents are not from Roanoke.
5. I don't understand why she has to detach herself from EVERYTHING to write. Writing is not about solitude unless you are Thoreau, and even then it has at least a backing of mankind. Dillard is not Thoreau and it seems like you must have to have some terribly dreadful disease to be so easily distracted that you move into a cabin and freeze because that's the only way you can write. I've been suspected of having ADD, but this seems a bit over the top. I guess people always go over the top for the things they love, but if you're really that bad at focusing, your mind will wander no matter where you are. If your attention span is only twenty minutes, it just means living in a semi-isolated cabin will be extremely unnerving. I think living in a busy world would be good because, as mentioned earlier, writing demands inspiration.
6. "Why people want to be writers I will never know, unless it is that their lives lack a material footing." People should not try to convince me that their jobs are the hardest jobs in the world, and they should definitely not say that they are unsensible. If it is unsensible to be a writer, stop. Find something else. Sorry professor Cross. I don't actually think writers are dumb or that they should choose a different profession, but if you're going to do something, don't try to convince people you chose the harder path or your life is really difficult. I don't like whiners or self-pityers