一 words and expressions
1. Only when they have children of their own—and feel the first twinges of their own advancing age—do they suddenly want to know more about their family heritage and all its accretions of anecdote and lore.
twinge: (一阵)剧痛，刺痛A twinge is a sudden sharp pain.
advancing: advancing years /age the fact of growing older年事渐高
2. You must find some way to elevate your act of writing into an entertainment.
elevate：to move someone or something to a more important level or rank, or make them better than before提拔，晋升，提升
3. This arrogance is at its most injurious when an editor goes beyond changes of style or structure and enters the sacred realm of content.
realm：written a general area of knowledge, activity, or thought〔知识、活动、思想的〕领域，范围
二 Thoughts
Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what this chapter is about: how to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into.
第24章讲的是how to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into.这使我想到了在过去中国的大家族都会编写家谱。家谱是一种特殊的文献，是中国文明史中具有平民特色的文献，记载的是同宗共祖血缘集团世系人物和事迹等方面情况的历史图籍。与家谱相比，作者在这里强调的writing是横向的，我们可以写写自己的生活以及伴随我们成长的家庭。
Writing well means believing in your writing and believing in yourself, taking risks, daring to be different, pushing yourself to excel. You will write only as well as you make yourself write.
作者在最后一章回归到反复提到的主题：You will write only as well as you make yourself write.
