I'm so confused

I have read half of "The Writing Life" by Annie Dillard and i am very confused. She keeps mentioning such random pieces. Her cabin by the water, her experience chopping wood, the kettle, then back to the cabin. I dont see where this is going yet. I am also confused by why she spent so much time discribing how she learned to chop wood and how she never got much heat from the wood that she did cut. She also mentioned that she would only chop enough wood to keep warm while she worked. What about the rest of the time? How did she keep warm when she wasn't writing? And what did she do to make food?

On the other hand, she is completely opposite from Sanders in she has to excape to an island to write. She wants to be completely isolated. She also doesn't take the time to get to know her surroundings like Sanders did. But, like Sanders, she is married although her husband is off on another island doing writing of his own.

Hopefully finishing the reading will make some of my confusions more clear as to why she included her random experiences.