The writing hand wants to write about what she did Saturday night: “I drank whiskey straight all night and stared at a man’s back across the bar. He was wearing a red T-shirt. I imagined him to have the face of Harry Belafonte. At three A.M., he finally turned my way and I spit into the ashtray when I saw him. He had the face of a wet mongrel who h

Human isolation is terrible. We want to connect and figure out what it means to write. “How do you live? What do you think?” we ask the author. We all look for hints, stories, examples.

It’s better to figure out what you want to say in the actual act of writing.

Hemingway said if a writer knows something, even if he doesn’t write it, it is present in his work.

This is how it works: You’ve always wanted to be a writer, but instead you decide you should become a health care worker. You go to school for four years. You get a degree in social work. You are at your first day of your new job, listening to an orientation, and you realize you really did want to be a writer. You quit your job, go to the library w

Hemingway said, “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” Don’t avoid it. It has all the energy. Don’t worry, no one ever died of it. You might cry or laugh, but not die.

2. Lose control. Say what you want to say. Don’t worry if it’s correct, polite, appropriate. Just let it rip.

“Not gifted with genius but honestly holding his experience deep in his heart, he kept his simplicity and humanity.”

“Keep your hand moving” strengthens the creator and gives little space for the editor to jump in.