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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dillard say that she believes may well be a writer's only firsthand experience?
(a) Childhood.
(b) College.
(c) Friendships.
(d) Travel.

2. What does Dillard's "line of words" do with random pictures in the writer's mind?
(a) Dreams of them.
(b) Dissects them out.
(c) Dismisses them.
(d) Writes them down, word for word.

3. What does Dillard describe as 'a net for catching days' in Chapter 2?
(a) Dreams.
(b) Clocks.
(c) A journal.
(d) A schedule.

4. Which author would walk through the hills for seven or eight hours on end without a hint of fatigue?
(a) Emerson.
(b) Dante.
(c) Nietzsche.
(d) Stevens.

5. Who is the main character in a story told by Ernest Thompson Seton?
(a) An Algonquin woman.
(b) A fisherman.
(c) An Eskimo man.
(d) A Native American woman.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Wallace Stevens dictate to his secretary?

2. What is the topic of an essay written by Dillard that she said she considers too obscure and too intellectual?

3. Which insect is discussed in the book as part of an entomological experiment?

4. As explained by Dillard in Chapter 1, what must be done to a piece of writing after the first draft is finished?

5. Who or what will teach someone to write, according to Dillard in Chapter 3?

(see the answer key)

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