Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.

Be tough in the way a blade of grass is: rooted, willing to lean, and at peace with what is around it.

The problem is we think we exist.

Original details are very ordinary, except to the mind that sees extraordinariness. it's not that we need to go to the Hopi mesas to see greatness; we need to view what we already have in a different way.

I often wonder if all the writers who are alcoholics drink a lot because they aren't writing. It is not because they are writers that they are drinking, but because they are writers who are not writing.

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

There's an old adage in writing: 'Don't tell, but show.' Writing is not psychology. We do not talk 'about' feelings. Instead the writer feels and through her words awakens those feelings in the reader. The writer takes the reader's hand and guides him through the valley of sorrow and joy without ever having to mention those words.