You want to say the thing that will drive everybody in the direction you want to go. But as a writer you have a pact with your readers that you'll be really straight with them at all times.

Corn is a greedy crop, as farmers will tell you.

The things journalists should pay attention to are the issues the political leadership agrees on, rather than to their supposed antagonisms.

Dreams of innocence are just that; they usually depend on a denial of reality that can be its own form of hubris.

My writing is remarkably non-confessional; you actually learn very little about me.

In a way, the more techniques you apply, the less important the ingredients are. It shouldn't be that way, but you can get away with it. But if you're highlighting this astounding artichoke, it's got to be an astounding artichoke.

Anyway, in my writing I've always been interested in finding places to stand, and I've found it very useful to have a direct experience of what I'm writing about.