Response to pg 20-30

Boice's third rule not only made sense to me, but it also resonated with me. "Remember that impatience blocks writers by associating writing with rushed, incomplete work," (24).

Impatience has been one of my problems when it comes to writing for pleasure. After I went into my dry spell, I'd wait for inspiration, then I'd get impatient - or even if I did get an idea, I would become impatient while writing it because I couldn't get it out as quickly as I wanted, or I couldn't eloquently articulate what I was trying to convey - so the whole process was full of impatience and negative tension.

All of Boice's strategies seem like helpful ways to resolve impatience, or at least begin by lessening it. Tension checks seem like a great idea - it makes complete sense. I noticed when I was reading, I had been sitting in a position for a while, and felt a little knot forming in my back, so I stopped to change my position and voila - I felt better.

Additionally, Boice said, "Some of us bring already established fears (of failure, of success, and of other things) to the table" (26). This also resonated with me. Every time I sit down to write now, there is this fear in the back of my mind that it will not be any good - or that I won't be able to convey what I want to - or maybe it will just sound silly once I write it down because it sounded better in my head. I suppose all of these are associated with fear of failure. So, maintaining confidence and comfort while undergoing my writing project is crucial.

I also really liked the strategies discussed for "refinding our voices," including free writing, recollective rewriting, and never stopping at the ends of a sentence. This last one is one that I'm particularly interested to try out!

The final technique that I think will be useful (and was really interesting to read about) is the tongue checks. I noticed as I was reading, my tongue was at the roof of my mouth, which suggests that I was tense. I'm almost positive I do this while writing too, if I seem to do it while reading - oh wait tongue check just now and sure enough: it's on the roof of my mouth! That being said, I intend to practice relaxing in general and try out these tongue checks.