Book Response

Bing Honors College Book Responses

            In The Courage to Write, Keyes identifies a fear that plagues writers everywhere: a fear of judgment and a fear of failure.  With writing, one can avoid failure quite easily.  It is possible not to fail (and not to succeed) simply by not writing anything at all.  For me, Keyes book demonstrates that it is worthwhile to put something down on the page.  Regardless of how rough it might be at the beginning, I know that my writing requires iteration and work.  The earlier this starts, the better.  It does not necessarily feel good to write at the outset of a project, particularly if you know you are producing words simply with the intention of changing them later.  But taking the plunge into a project (and moving from the “research” process to the “writing” process) is the vital first step that is required to produce something worthwhile.

            I think my most significant takeaway from Pyne’s book is that reading other good historical (or non-historical for that matter) writing can be an effective source of inspiration throughout a project.  I know that as I continue with writing the first draft of my thesis, it will be helpful to try and model some of my writing and analysis loosely on some of the best secondary sources that I have encountered in my research.  Additionally, I am planning on drawing on other texts I enjoy for stylistic inspiration as I try to craft a narrative that will be pleasing to read, while at the same time presenting a substantive scholarly contribution.

            As I move forward with my thesis, I am expecting that the writing process will reveal holes in my research that I need to fill.  In particular, I know that I will have to construct a more robust contextual framework within which to situate my analysis of primary source material.  This, once again, demonstrates the necessity of taking the plunge into writing, because it will show me what more I need to accomplish on the research front.  I am excited to continue my work as we head into fall quarter and see where it takes me.