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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did a well-known writer respond to a student in Chapter 5 who asked if he could be a writer?
(a) Have you taken my course?
(b) Do you have imagination?
(c) What do you know about the world?
(d) Do you like sentences?

2. What does Dillard say that she thinks happens to something, such as a writing idea, that you do not give up freely and abundantly?
(a) It becomes better with age.
(b) Someone else will get it.
(c) It will be poorly written.
(d) It becomes lost to you.

3. What did Frederick Buechner note about an author realizing that he is actually writing?
(a) The writer should revise what was written.
(b) It calls for a break or celebration.
(c) The wood must be split and fired.
(d) It must go on once it is noticed.

4. What, according to Dillard, is the first thing a writer does that is similar to what a painter does?
(a) Shapes the vision of the work.
(b) Shapes a vision of the world.
(c) Brings the vision of the work to light.
(d) Ignores the first faint marks on the canvas or page.

5. Whose poetry did Dillard usually read aloud when on a break?
(a) Walt Whitman's.
(b) Ralph Waldo Emerson's.
(c) Frederick Buechner's.
(d) Conrad Aiken's.

6. Who wrote, 'He goes because he must, as Galahad went towards the Grail; knowing that for those who can live it, this alone is life'?
(a) Evelyn Underhill.
(b) Henry Thoreau.
(c) Albert Einstein.
(d) Wallace Stevens.

7. When Dillard lacked sufficient energy for writing one morning in Chapter 3, what does she say she did to try and get it?
(a) Split some wood and smoked.
(b) Ran a few miles and ate.
(c) Smoked and drank coffee.
(d) Played the recorder.

8. What happened to the Smith-Corona typewriter in Chapter 4?
(a) The cord sent out sparks.
(b) The rumbling damaged it beyond repair.
(c) It erupted with smoke and fire.
(d) It fell from the desk and broke.

9. What damage did the Smith-Corona typewriter do in Chapter 4?
(a) The writer's shirt was burned.
(b) The table the typewriter was on collapsed.
(c) The rug got damaged.
(d) The curtains were set on fire.

10. What does Dillard say that she believes a writer should aim for when writing?
(a) The scraps of wood.
(b) The axe.
(c) The wood.
(d) The chopping block.

11. What does Dillard say that she remembers seeing on the island at Haro Strait that made her weep on the shore in fear?
(a) A man out in a rowboat at night.
(b) The sea in a winter storm.
(c) A fire on Stuart Island.
(d) The island beach dropping to the ocean floor suddenly.

12. Who once said about writing, 'Know your own bone'?
(a) Truitt.
(b) Thoreau.
(c) Ibsen.
(d) Whitman.

13. What two problems does Dillard say she feels that a writer must solve when writing a book?
(a) Can it be done? and, Can I do it?
(b) Where is my plot? and, How do I end this?
(c) Can I write each sentence? and, Can I string them together?
(d) Can I keep track of characters? and, What do I name them?

14. How did Dillard come to understand the proper way to split wood?
(a) By sheer luck.
(b) Via a dream.
(c) The neighbors told her.
(d) She watched an instructional video.

15. Where, in Washington State, did Dillard beg a cabin in which to write?
(a) On Herron Island.
(b) Boundary Pass.
(c) On Haro Strait.
(d) On Snake River.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dillard say that she believes may well be a writer's only firsthand experience?

2. What did Dillard learn about herself while talking with the sheriff in Chapter 3?

3. What does the novel as a form usually represent, according to Dillard?

4. How does Dillard say that she defines the life of the writer in Chapter 3?

5. What was Dillard's painter neighbor, Glenn, working on for six months in Chapter 6?

(see the answer keys)

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