Boice to Men

I think Boice offers some fairly sound suggestions for essay and paper writing in this piece, however, for him to blanketly expect all writing to follow these rules is misguided; and by “all writing”, I’m primarily talking about creative writing. For example, Boice’s rule to avoid passive waiting and deadlines, beginning one’s assignment well ahead of time, in order to create motivation is subjective. Just the basic idea of manufacturing motivation, though possible in my opinion, is something entirely subjective. It has to be. Though some people write better when given a large amount of time, just as many need the pressure of an approaching deadline to create. And assuming that this "rushed" product will be necessarily better or worse than work given “the proper amount of time” to form is, again misguided just as it is misguided to think that “binge writing” should be avoided. Tell that to Jack Keroac. These things are entirely dependent upon the writer. Perhaps I take greater issue with Boice’s wording than his ideas; I think these things are great “guidelines”, but to label them as “rules” is to suggest that Boice understands how every single person best writes when the process of writing is as subjective as the appreciation of it. Baring this in mind, I do think such suggestions as making writing a daily habit and setting “stopping points” for oneself are also good guidelines to follow.

Would you tell this guy not to binge?