“Thoreau was writing ‘down.’ Writing ‘down’ means to plunge into the depth of a detail, extract its essence and allow this to permeate and vitalize the piece as a whole. Writing ‘down’ made the minutia of an imaginary world spring to life.”

— from the chapter “A Button and a Few Bones” in One Continuous Mistake: Four Noble Truths for Writers by Gail Sher

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