Work hard and meticulously. When in trouble, look closely at a text that is a good example of what you're trying to do. And be patient.

Why don't you like the foods I like?" he asks sometimes. "Why don't you like the foods I make?" I answer.

I don't believe, in the end, that there is any such thing as no style. Even a very neutral, plain style, one that doesn't use colloquialisms, lyrical flourishes, heavy supplies of metaphor, etc., is a style, and it becomes a writer's characteristic style just as much as a thicker, richer deployment of idiom and vocabulary.

When I'm trying a new form- trying to do something I'm not used to doing, which was true of the novel.

Because I'm not writing all the time (thank goodness), my mind is sometimes pleasantly blank.

I worked more intensively hour after hour when I was starting out [writing]. More laboriously. I'd say quantity is important as well as quality, and if you're not producing enough, make a schedule and stick to it.

Work hard and meticulously. When in trouble, look closely at a text that is a good example of what you're trying to do. And be patient.