Reading and Writing Harris Style

Harris' attempts to convey that reading and writing are open for interpretation according to the comfort levels of the current 'reviser'. To Harris writing exists in the form of rewriting, in the form of both personal revision and interpretations of past literary works. His main focus, when it comes to writing, is to embed the idea of writing as a social practice with action, and dynamics, instead of the all-to-common summarization. A  writer should feel free to respond, not necessarily to the original author, but to those who may receive the rewritten work. Before grasping the basic concept of how to read, Harris first helps us to understand what it is we are reading and interpreting. Harris defines this as a text, or any physical artifact with personal meaning. With this in mind Harris suggests we read with the author and then from different perspectives to gain a complete understanding of the passage as a whole. Harris outlines three guidelines to consider while reading which I find could be very helpful: define the purpose of the author's project, note keywords, and determine limits and uses.
The term project is used to convey that not all literary works are constructed around a single simple main idea, some include complex thoughts. Finding where the author is coming from and where they received their information can help easily determine the meaning behind the textual piece. When responding to a written work quotes can be your "best friend". Through the multiple types of available quotes a writer can efficiently display the way in which they interpreted the original text.
This all ties in to Andrew Sullivan's ideas of writing being more unstructured and in the moment. The formalities of academic writing hinder the creative and personal flow. Both Sullivan and Harris come from the idea that writing should be expressed in a way that suites the writer.