Chapter 29

   I truly believe that words can have magic wrapped into them. I related to the part when Peter Elbow wrote about literature being an "escape route." I do believe that magic can be carried on through your words. Certain words on a paper can attract your attention and make it worth while to read it. And Elbow explains, with the example of blank checks, that this is what we all wish for as writers. In an entire sea full of essays and poems, we want our work to be sought through and interest the reader. With certain words and a little hint of magic, it's possible to make your work uniquely interesting amongst the rest. Elbow writes, "So maybe that's where the power in writing comes from that I want to call magic: context." Even if a paper has only one thoroughly written part, that short paragraph is enough to capture a readers attention. Elbow explains, "A passage long enough to carry a lot of context." Writing should be an experience and if you're not allowing the reader to join you on this journey, it won't keep their attention for long. Even if you're writing about something you've never experienced before, the magic of writing is that you could have already experienced it in your mind. But Elbow explains that by stressing too much about capturing the magic, you could very well find yourself stressing TOO much over it and not capture your true self or, anything for that matter, at all. I guess the concept of magic is perfectly written in the final sentence by Elbow: "Though you must believe in magic, then, often you must be willing to do without it."