Place Matters.

One of the ideas Sanders touches upon in "Writing From The Center" was that there are a few writers who say that it is best to write without distraction. They end up secluding themselves and they don't care to form relationships because they are so focused on their work that they don't want anything hindering that. I completely disagree with this way of thinking. Sure, some distractions prevent us from doing important, meaningful work, but when it comes to the idea of place and relationships (a.k.a life) I think that is where the best writing originates. How can writers write without having inspiration from something they've experienced? Therefore it's important to get to know your place, yourself, and the people around you because that is where the best inspiration to write comes from. One of my favorite quotes of from Sanders' essay that really drives this idea home is when he says, "so might writers, through works of inspiration, give back to the places that feed them a more abundant life." (p. 161) Therefore, experience life. Get to know your surroundings and this is where you will draw your greatest inspiration. Without place where would we be? Who would we be?

On another note, one of the things Dillard talks about in "The Writing Life" that I really connected with was the fact that she admits how difficult it is to create good writing, and how difficult it is to write in general. She says, "this morning, as on so many mornings, I lacked sufficient fuel for liftoff." (p. 6) This quote really answered some questions for me because I have always been fascinated with how writers can, well...write. In order to do it for a living you would have to have a heck of a lot of inspiration. That's something she mentions too, that it's difficult to write great things because she lives such an ordinary life. She's no Zulu warrior or Aztec maiden. How do people write books of 900+ pages? How do they have so much inspiration and creativity to write like that for months on end? A lot of times I find it hard to draw up inspiration for major assignments or even the littlest ones. I think it's big of her for admitting and explaining to her audience how it's not easy to create great writing because we never really hear the "behind the scenes" part of the writing process. We just reap the benefits. Writers will always amaze me. Kudos to them.