WRITING REFLECTION

The first quote that I read that surfaced memories of writing and receiving feedback on my writing would have to be the one where Wallace talks about the writer not being able to see inside your mind -- they're a completely different being, and, if you're lucky, will probably never meet you.  You can't just assume that the reader will know what you're implying because you know what you're implying.  I remember being told by people that I had edit that they didn't understand this or that because I didn't explain it clearly enough for them, so this quote jogged my memory pretty strongly.  The next quote was a few down, but it was when Wallace was talking about how all of us are quite lazy with our vocabulary, and tend to primarily use the words in our vernacular, rather than our repertoire.  And if you pay attention to it, it'll make you annoyed at the world around you, but also a better writer.  So in this case, the benefits outweigh the costs.  This quote stuck with me because I remember, when writing my college essays, to use other words, and try to think of a better way to say this, or that this phrase isn't that effective -- try to come up with a different one.  And it was really annoying, but when I looked over my essay at the end, it was a lot better than it was before I had made all those edits.