D Charest Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard seems to say that the beginning of a book, no matter how the author may try, ends up being written solely for the author to find his way in writing the book. It will always be thrown out, but it was not completely useless as it gets the author to the "middle" of the book. In a sense it guides the author to the true path the book will take, but must then be taken away once that path is found.
I came across a word in Dillard's text that I had never seen before. The word was epistemological. Dictionary.com states that epistemology is a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. This concept is integral to this class in that the things we discuss seem to be doing just that, investigating our limits of knowledge and expanding those limits.
Dillard also seems to imply that in order for a writer to be productive, he must be secluded. She says on page 564 that "appealing workplaces must be avoided" and goes on to say "so imagination can meet memory in the dark." This is very puzzling to me because if it seems that if you are not in an "appealing workplace" that you would be uncomfortable, and I do not see how you could be productive if you are uncomfortable.
I enjoyed when Dillard wrote about splitting wood, and how you don't aim at the wood itself when you chop, you must aim at the chopping block, with the wood being a "transparent means to an end" (p575). Is this a metaphor about writing? Do you aim for the end of a book and the filling pages are the transparent means to an end?