Be willing and unafraid to write badly, because often the bad stuff...forms a base on which to build something better.
Jennifer EganI'm very interested in the way the Internet has changed teenage life. Obviously it's very different from when I grew up, when there weren't even answering machines, much less computers. I was telling my children this the other day, and the little one said, "Did you have electricity, Mom?" and I was like okay, enough, kid.
Jennifer EganRead at the level at which you want to write. Reading is the nourishment that feeds the kind of writing you want to do.
Jennifer EganEven the financial disclosure statements that political bloggers were required to post hadn't stemmed the suspicion that people's opinions weren't really their own. "Who's paying you?" was a retort that might follow any bout of enthusiasm, along with laughter - who would let themselves be bought?
Jennifer Egan