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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When you start thinking like a writer, where does Anne suggest you get your material?

2. If we do not have our broccoli to help us write, what guides us?

3. What did Anne's therapist tell her jealousy was?

4. What did Anne use to entertain her son, Sam, while he was in the emergency room?

5. What did Anne's book do for her father?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Anne say someone reading your material can help you?

2. Does Anne consider calling around work?

3. How can breathing calmly affect you when KFKD is playing?

4. Why do Anne students sometimes take on the voice of popular writers?

5. Why does Anne suggest writing a letter when you have run out of ideas of what to do next?

6. In Part 3, Help Along the Way, Section 1, Index Cards, Anne uses the index cards not only for notes, but in what other way?

7. Anne states that writers strive to tell the truth. Can truth be told as a one-liner on a bumper sticker?

8. How did Anne's article about being a lifelong Giants fan originate?

9. What do Annie Dillard and Anne say about giving to your work?

10. What are the two things that put Anne in the spirit to give?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A feeling Anne suffers from throughout the book is paranoia. In Part 1 Writing, Section 1 Getting Started, what does Anne tell her students about paranoia and the other painful feelings? She goes on to read a poem by Phillip Lopate about paranoia. What are the reactions of the students?

Essay Topic 2

Anne starts off the last chapter by again encouraging her students to write about their childhood. Why does she place so much emphasis on writing about your childhood? How did we look at the world when we were children? What do you have to gain emotionally from writing about your childhood? What do you have to gain for your future work?

Essay Topic 3

Ethan Canin says you should never write out of vengeance, while Anne says you should always write out of vengeance. These are two opposing ideas by two acclaimed writers. Who do you agree with and why?

(see the answer keys)

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