Part 3, Section 4, Someone to Read Your Drafts Summary and Analysis

Anne advocates for someone to read drafts prior to submission for publication. The person or people should both be close enough and honest enough to make the exercise worthwhile. For Anne, there are two people. One is a fellow writer and the other is a librarian who is an avid reader. While Anne trusts both persons, she is still a nervous wreck after sharing her work.

The role of the reader of a draft is similar to that of a midwife. Their job is to recognize "...(the) stories and ideas and visions and memories and plots inside me (Anne), and only I can give birth to them" (page 164). Draft readers are to recognize the story within the writer and help him or her give 'birth' to it on the...