everyone can write

After close reading both pieces, I felt like I connected more with Sanders than Dillard. I view Sanders as a lighthearted person that gained a good deal of knowledge from his past experiences. I felt like he gave advice to his readers throughout "Writing from the Center" which made it a more pleasurable read for me. 

Sanders discusses the importance of place and what it does for the imagination. He says, "Whenever I see those farmsteads, I sense the smothering isolation, but I also sense the gathered purpose" (160). He later says, "but we might help form the conscience of a place, and that seems to me ambition enough for a lifetime's labor" (160). This is so refreshing to read especially after reading Dillard's "The Writing Life". Sanders presents an optimistic attitude opposed to Dillard's pessimistic one. To be a writer, I think one must have an optimistic attitude. Writer's are constantly under pressure to write before deadlines and often find themselves in "writer's block". Sanders searches for the best in everything and believes that all writers, no matter the place, can write. "The blank spaces are not on the land, however they are in our minds" (161). 

Sanders I think can be seen as a role model to all writers. He recognizes the arguments made towards his profession, and then he discredits them making his argument even stronger. Sanders constantly shows his love and dedication to writing which is inspiring to all of his readers. "To be steadfast is to stand by someone or something, out of conviction that what you are committed to is worth loving and defending" (160).