Dialectical Notebook for Lamott, King, and Diaz

Lamott

Response	Quotation
I totally agree with this. This shows the reader that you NEED to write more than one draft, more than two drafts. Every time the paper gets better and more understandable.	“A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft-you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft-you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy” (303).
This is a great exercise. You need to get rid of the imaginary people in your head, so it’s just your voice. Then you can write.	“Close your eyes and get quiet for a minute, until the chatter starts up” (304).

King

Response	Quotation
I like this quote because I have never thought of telepathy in that way before. To me it explains the relationship between the writer and the reader at different time periods. Almost everyone pictures the same thing as long as there is a good description.	“All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe writing offers the purest distillation” (305).
I love this. King is proving his point that telepathy happens every day and I think he’s being a bit cocky while saying it. Makes me smile.	“I didn’t tell you. You didn’t ask me. I never opened my mouth and you never opened yours” (307).

Diaz

Response	Quotation
This quote is describing writers block. It happens to everyone at some point, and everyone has to dig themselves out of it.	“It was like I somehow slipped into a No-Writing Twilight Zone and I couldn’t find an exit” (319).
Diaz is saying that no matter what, no matter if it’s 2 years, a true writer doesn’t give up on something good. Even if it is only 72 pages.	“You see, in my view a writer is not a writer because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway” (320).