Susan Gibb writes over at LtS

Two days of writing, ten pages of Absolutism, Peter the Great, Declarations of Independence, D of I’s for Men, D of I’s for Women, and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Will this knowledge help me in the twilight years? Has the lack of a clear understanding of the French Revolution hurt me in some way for the first three quarters or more of my life?

And the biggest question: What if I forget it all (highly likely) anyway?

Or maybe this question: How has the writing of historical fact and assessment essays helped my creative writing? For one thing, it has destroyed my ability to transcend above it into the realm of free thought. But for another, it has forced the discipline of research and the ultimate sorting through and establishing arguments to put down in a condensed and concise manner my findings.

But then again, I think I could have done okay without it.

Something about the idea of the universe’s expansion really gets the blood going for me. I don’t know why but it has to do with imagery. I can see the physical consequences; then I think about the scales, the sizes of things “out there.” How would a poem capture the flash of the image?

This is a natural inclination, to want to draw the image. It may be that under the stress of assessment, the real questions get lost. There has to be a way of following up. I’d suggest that for the writer, the follow up happens in the story or the poem. Even on the weblog.