The muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart.

I don't know anything but writing practice, and so what I really do is direct that energy as if it were flowing down a river.

Sometimes people say to me, “I want to write, but I have five kids, a full-time job, a wife who beats me, a tremendous debt to my parents,” and so on. I say to them, “There is no excuse. If you want to write, write. This is your life. You are responsible for it. You will not live forever. Don’t wait. Make the time now, even if it is ten minutes once a week."

You'll lose your reader if you are vague, not clear, and not present. We love details, personal connections, stories.

After you have finished a piece of work, the work is then none of your business. Go on and do something else.

If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.

We walk through so many myths of each other and ourselves; we are so thankful when someone sees us for who we are and accepts us.