Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class.
No man leaves where he is and seeks a distant place unless he is in some respect a failure.
I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.
I have only one bit of advice to beginning writers: be sure your novel is read by Rodgers and Hammerstein.