Dillard: "The Writing Life" Part 2

     There are fears that writers' dread the most.  And in Chapter 4,  I could feel the shock as Dillard watched her typewriter burst into flames.  It recalled a very tremendous and painful moment in my life.

     I myself have the top 3 things I fear most when it comes to writing.  1) Although I often don't feel confident to publish or share my writings to the public, I don't want to lose them either.  They are stored carefully in a hard drive where I can only access them.  When writing, I become so connected, so attached to my stories and characters.  At one point, I was writing quite a lot and had gotten far in quite a few of my short stories.  It was a very prideful time for me for I am also notorious for not finishing any of my writings.  Unfortunately, that happy time did not last long.  Not sure what happened, but one day, when I plugged in my USB, I found nothing in the folders.  Nothing.  I was devastated; everything I wrote electronically since I was fifteen years of age was lost.  Because of this, it was hard for me to get back into writing again, but thankfully, I had backed up a couple of those stories in another hard drive.  Not all had been lost.

     2) Dillard really emphasizes those times when one sits down and can't write a single word down.  Either there is nothing in the brain or there is a potential idea that can also potentially ruin it all.  This is my second fear, and the ironic thing is, this happens all the time.  One of my favorite quotes in Dillard's book, "[The writer] is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write" (68).  Writing is not something that comes easy, although we all have our moments.  We are very careful, making sure every paragraph, every sentence, every word, flows nicely and creates a masterpiece.

     Lastly, 3) a writer writes to share, but it cannot guarantee an audience.  Maybe only  a few care about a story on chemistry while millions care about a story on vampires.  I have to put aside the thought on 'pleasing' my audience, and yet, I don't write to 'please' them.  I write to share and to teach and to learn.  The fear of not being heard is always at the back of my mind, but true writers know that those who do  hear are meant to hear.