Response to Chapters 6 and 7

To begin, I feel skipping the first chapters was not a good idea.  I had begun the book at the beginning, but all I got through was the introduction and chapter one.  Up to that point, I was enjoying the book and also found it very interesting.  Skipping ahead to chapter six did not work out well.  I felt much more alienated than when I began - it was a little difficult to jump in her new ideas with no connection to the old ones.  I would like to go back and read the chapters I missed.  Also, her connection with Therapy and Writing took me off guard, at first.  I found it odd she began each small portion of her chapters by taking about therapists and then using those ideas with writers.  In chapter six, she addressed every problem a writer could have getting started writing.  I appreciated the quotes she had in this chapter from other writers.  Those quotes seemed to work as encouragement for her arguments and for a writer having trouble getting started.  Chapter seven delve into therapy and writing as two very similar things.  This chapter redefines the idea of audience for me.  I always thought of the audience as who would read the work, not as who would be helped.  I think approaching the audience as if they entire audience is one client could be difficult, everything would have to be very generalized to reach everyone.  Yet, the greatest idea she presented was connecting with the person.  If you tell a story that person can relate to, it will help him or her to better understand the idea and be more willing to accept it.  This way, writing to the audience as clients will work, since the stories will be personal.  I also realized that this is a great chapter for tutors.  It relates writing and therapy, both of which are involved in a tutoring session.  You cannot just tell someone to change their paper - they'll never learn!  Approaching writing differently may help a tutor to better help someone with his or her writing.  It is very interesting to think about the relationship that exists between writing, therapy, and tutoring.