Ben's Post

This passage comes from Annie Dillard's The Writing Life:

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

I first read this passage twelve years ago. I remember finding Dillard's words incredibly inspiring. In that moment, I was certain that I would be forever changed as a writer. I would no longer agonize over a word choice or struggle to turn a phrase. I would write wildly, never censor my work, and always find my way to a point after the air had cleared.Truthfully, I've been writing daily for the better part of my life and still struggle to put Dillard's words into practice. I still agonize and often get stuck. Why do you think that as writers we find ourselves holding back? What gets in the way of your writing process? Or maybe you are the kind of writer who truly does "spend it all." How/why does this seem to work for you? What do you make of Dillard's last statement?