I. Words and express

1. The tyranny of the final product.

tyranny    cruel and unfair government

标题中采用“tyranny”这个词，意思是写作的最后成品并不是客观的，而是带有较强的主观性，这体现在作者在构思的过程中包含了对材料的筛选

2. They can already picture their story in print: the headline, the layout, the photographs and, best of all. the byline.

byline    a line at the top of an article in a newspaper or magazine giving the author's name. 除了“署名行”和“署名”之外，byline还有“副业”的意思

3. Less glamorous gains made along the way——learning, wisdom, growth, confidence, dealing with failure——aren't given the same respect because they can't be given a grade.

glamorous    attractive, exciting, and related to wealth and success

“诸如学习、智慧、成长、自信、克服失败，这些不那么光彩夺目的成就并没有获得同样的尊重，因为它们难以被衡量。”

4. As an editor and a teacher I've found that the most untaught and underestimated skill in nonfiction writing is how to organize a long article: how to put the jigsaw puzzle together.

jigsaw    a picture cut up into many pieces that you try to fit together

5. I didn't particularly expect them to find it pertinent to their age group——adolescents with fewer memories and attanchments than adults have,

pertinent    directly relating to something that is being considered

6. Nonfiction writers often forget that they are not required to acquiesce in tawdry work, to carry the trash for magazine editors who have an agenda of their own——to sell a commercial product.

acquiesce    to do what someone else wants, or allow something to happen, even though you do not really agree with it

tawdry    cheaply and badly made

II. Summary

Writing is not something result oriented. Even if we write ariticles at last, but the process is more important than product. The most difficult thing is to organize a long article. We should distill a coherent narrative from a huge and tangled mass of experiences and feelings and memories. When we decide to write something, don't write very big. The only thing we need is a small topic which close related with our life. Writing is about to find something we want to do and how to do it, then write it down with humanity and integrity.

III. Thoughts

第二十二章的主要观点是强调构思的过程比写作的最终结果更为重要，其中强调了写作的难点在于从纷繁复杂的材料中提炼出思路并勾勒出雏形，这与前面几章中提到的“think small”的观点相照应。的确，有了成熟的构思，写作就已经事半功倍。并且，我们应当把写作看做是对思维的训练，而不是为了写而写，仅仅是为了完成任务的写作是高无意义的。上学期毕业论文开题，可以说是对此深有体会。首先，如Zinsser所说，不要试图在一篇文章里告诉读者所有内容，要有所取舍。的确，一开始的选题，我总是想着面面俱到，要把前人没有理清的问题全部讲明白，然而以现在的学力是不可能的。其次，构思比成文更重要。从选题到整理资料，大概用时半年，开题之后用在写详细提纲的时间也有半个多月，现在至少我已经清楚每个章节需要多长的篇幅，该如何安排每一章的侧重点。心中有数，自然也就轻松不少。