Summary

In the summer of 1966, John struggles with how to begin a piece of writing. He has assembled all his material, but does not know what to do with it. He remembers his high school English teacher Olive McKee who required that each of their compositions be accompanied by a structural outline, which she told them to do first. McPhee has followed his example in other difficult times of his career. In one example, he writes a strong lead and then spends the rest of his time structuring his material before writing the rest. In the present day of 1966, John's writer's block is broken when he finds a way of beginning his story and subsequently a way of structuring the rest of the material.

John emphasizes the importance of structure by echoing the lesson he has taught his students for decades: "You can build a...