"

You need to take out the stuff that’s just sitting there and doing nothing. No slackers allowed! All meat, no filler!

"

Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and ...more

"

Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when if feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit...more

"

It's hard for me to believe that people who read very little - or not at all in some cases - should presume to write and expect people to like what th...more

"

... when editors were flattered, they would sometimes give in on some of their mad ideas.

"

But if you needed to HAVE AN IDEA, boredom could be to a roadblocked novel what chemotherapy was to a cancer patient.

"

Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it's about enriching the lives of those w...more

"

There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or compute...more

"

At its most basic we are only discussing a learned skill, but do we not agree that sometimes the most basic skills can create things far beyond our ex...more

"

Only God gets it right the first time and only a slob says, "Oh well, let it go, that's what copyeditors are for.