What?!

Not surprisingly, Smith points out that many of the perceived “rules” of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and handwriting are nothing more than convention and tradition. I really appreciated this sentiment on page 196; “Authors – even dead ones – have tremendous advantage over live teachers; they always proceed at the pace of the individual learner, and are able to repeat their lessons as often as the learner wants, without any coercion, embarrassment or punitive threats.”
While I never thought much about it, I think that it is probably accurate that, “… Poor writers rarely read their work at all. Poor writers are much more likely to be satisfied with what they have written, without really knowing what they have written.” I don’t know that I have been satisfied with them, but I do know my worst writings have been those that I did not take the time to read.
The Hartwell piece was very confusing to me. It was if Smith’s consciousness inhabited someone else for awhile.