I said in my last post that the test of this book would be if it stuck. It has, and how. When I was rewriting a short story to send in to an anthology, I kept thinking about how I was using color in the room descriptions and even in the dialogue. The imagery in general, the pacing of the story and the way the author left out bits of information or manipulated them to make the reader uncomfortable, also came back when I was rethinking the way I presented information for my own readers. Especially in a short space, the techniques RPW used are especially effective-- something a poet I discussed the book with mentioned as well. I feel like it is all coming together: my study, my discussion, my writing.

What this says to me is that this book, or maybe just the action of reading closely and focusing on technique, has come back to serve me already. If anyone was put off reading Wilderness by my blog post, I would say I am much more ready to recommend it to other readers, and especially other writers, than I was before.