Why I Write.

When I first started to read this, I was a little confused. Actually, by the end I was still pretty confused. What I took from this was that people develop their creativity from different places. If Didion would have not failed or had not done what she has done, then she would never have figured out that she is a writer.

To start I think it's crazy that she compared writing to bullying. I think that's so true. You are trying to get people to agree with you. You're putting all your work out there, all your knowledge out there to get people to see things your way. In papers where my opinion doesn't really matter, I find it hard to tone down my feelings on the topic and write strictly fact based. Writing this way however makes it difficult to write a paper when I don't agree with the topic.

Moving on, the fact that Didion's plans didn't go as planned gave her reason to write, which I think is pretty cool. The way her stories come together is pretty cool as well. The idea of writing with "white space" in mind seems extremely challenging, but the way she described her story using that idea was really interesting. She can create characters that can do whatever they want, they can be whoever she wants them to be.

I also enjoyed hearing about this "shimmer." The way she compares herself to someone on hallucinogens or someone that has schizophrenia is just crazy. But to me it also seems magical, like her creativity is visible, only to her maybe, but it seems real. She sees things in a different way, and I think that most people do not see things the same way, or else we would all love and hate the same things.