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I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all...more

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Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you're conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the trut...more

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Seeing yourself in print is such an amazing concept: you can get so much attention without having to actually show up somewhere. While others who have...more

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When people shine a little light on their monster, we find out how similar most of our monsters are.

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A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way. It's a lie if you make something up. But you make it up in the name of th...more

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All good writers write [terrible first drafts.] This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts. . . I know some very great ...more

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You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wande...more

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I like to think that Henry James said his classic line, "A writer is someone on whom nothing is lost," while looking for his glasses, and that they we...more

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I don't know where to start," one [writing student] will wail. Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all ...more

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Say to yourself in the kindest possible way, Look, honey, all we're going to for now is to write a description of the river at sunrise, or the young c...more

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The society to which we belong seems to be dying or is already dead. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but clearly the dark side is rising. Things could...more

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Toni Morrison said, "The function of freedom is to free someone else," and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, te...more

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You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wande...more

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He is a writer. He makes the rest of them nervous.