the art of writing

247 You will know that you’re done with something when you can’t imagine making it better. For some writers that’s a state of exhilaration: They’ve done everything they can. This beautiful accomplishment! Nothing can improve it. Others of us arrive at the same place, despondent: This ramshackle thing. I’ve reached the end of my powers. Nothing can

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On writing about what you know, via Robert Pirsig (1974 interview):

Write about what you know. And he said, if you write about what you know and you do it carefully and sincerely and make sure it's really what you know, that'll be plenty exotic to everybody else in this book. I've really tried to do that, and I've tried to justify what I've done to

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I’ve been teaching creative writing for many years. And teaching writing is a weird thing, because it’s not just about helping students master a subject. It’s really about helping them discover what stories they’re meant to tell, how best to tell those stories, and how to overcome the inhibitions that inevitably arise when we seize the mantle of... See more

In good hands There is a feeling I search for: being in good hands. It is the feeling I look to give and the feeling I look to receive. I know I am in good hands when I sense a cohesive point of view expressed with attention to detail. I can feel it almost... See more

Excellence is the war you wage until every trace of the struggle disappears

Constantly ask: what am I trying to say? Then ask: have I said it?