一 words and expressions

1.?how to situate what they write in a particular place, and how to get the people who live in that place to talk about what makes it—or once made it—special.

situate:?to describe or consider something as being part of something else or related to something else认为…是…的部分; 把…跟…联系起来考虑

2.?and their sentences leach out all over the floor like marbles.

leach out:?to remove a substance from a material, especially from earth, by the process of water moving through the material, or to remove parts of a material using water漂洗，过滤（尤指土壤）

3.?one woman told us, describing how the fabric of life in the Midwest had frayed since she was a girl on her grandparents’ farm.

fray:?to become or to cause the threads in cloth or rope to become slightly separated, forming loose threads at the edge or end（使）（布料或绳子）磨损，（使）磨散

4.?the writer continuing to dredge up fragments of his life

dredge up:?to talk about something bad or unpleasant that happened in the past翻（旧帐），揭（伤疤），重提（不快往事）

5.?That release from immediacy was what I wanted to get into the metabolism of my students.

immediacy:?when something seems real and important, so that you feel involved with it即时性；直接性

6.?We can write to affirm and to celebrate, or we can write to debunk and to destroy

debunk:?to show that something is less important, less good or less true than it has been made to appear驳斥；揭穿，揭露…的真相

二 Thoughts

Writing is related to character. If your values are sound, your writing will be sound. It all begins with intention. Figure out what you want to do and how you want to do it, and work your way with humanity and integrity to the completed article. Then you’ll have something to sell.

The author tells a currernt phenomenon: writers ?focus on the final product ?instead of the process of creating the final product. Because we do not ?know ?what is wanted by editors, ?the author just taught people ?to wirte well.?

His teaching method is unique. In daily life, we are afraid of deadlines, while most professors and teachers tend to set a deadline. The auother's method is making people forget about the deadlines. Before writing, we should figure out what we really want to write and what perspective we want to keep.