Annie Dillard's "Write Till You Drop"

While the sentences needed deciphering at times and did not always flow well (beginning with the very first one, “People love pretty much the same things best.”—huh?), Dillard’s “Write Till You Drop” was nevertheless amusing and filled with valuable messages and interesting insights on writing. What a relief to learn that the foundation of good writing can begin with something so basic: a love for sentences! I adore sentences, but they do not come easy. So far, I have yet to experience a great line/sentence dropping from the ceiling as Dillard promises will happen, but, at least now, I have hope.

Dillard encourages us to write as if we were dying and to assume the same of our audience. How plausible is her idea? We know that we will face death at some point. Unless we are given dreaded news--the kind that has the power to bring us to our knees, like an incurable cancer diagnosis or HIV--most of us certainly do not live each day as if it were our last. Isn't the only way to write as if we were dying is if we really were--not the fifty or sixty years from now dying, but the six months to a year, clock-is-ticking type?

Receiving a death sentence is sure to change our perspective. How often have we heard about a terminally ill patient who suddenly loses his/her inhibitions? He or she rights the wrongs in relationships, sees the world in a new light, and, perhaps for the first time, treasures simple things that were once taken for granted: a child's hug, a walk in the park, a sunset. Too bad something so drastic needs to happen before we focus on the things that really matter.
The author wants us to strive for that point of view because it is then, when peel away our hang-ups and fears, that true expression emerges.