Moderate Attachments

   

    Boice’s suggestion about moderate attachments in chapter 16 reminds me of my college composition teacher, who always suggests that we put our drafts aside for a few days before we revise them. His suggestion echoes Boice’s advice. They both think it is important to maintain a certain distance from our own works so we can generate criticism from that distance. It is hard to practice my college teacher’s suggestion because I usually cannot complete my draft that early and afford to put it aside for a few days. But I found Boice’s suggestion is useful. Though Boice also emphasizes the importance of starting early and thus having a draft finished early, he also offers some strategies that I can employ during the process of writing. For example, he says that we can work with other people (which I really did for this semester) so we can have others take a look at our works. He also suggests that we work “with a compassionate sense of audience in mind” (180). This piece of advice is also useful because if I am unable to finish my draft that early, I can at least try to avoid overattachment while writing.

    I also found it is important to maintain a distance not only from our writing but also from others’. Sometimes I found that the latter is more difficult to practice than the former because others’ (published) essays are so convincing and well-explained that it takes effort to keep a critical distance from them. Sometimes I just find myself “overattached” to the works I read. I think Boice’s advice is also applicable when it comes to reading others’ writing.