In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write.

keep your hand moving

To stay close and intimate with experience is to stay close to the mind; the nitty gritty mind of the way things really are.

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.

I told all kinds of stories about going to Japan, about playing ball with my father... I wanted to record my life in case it was going to end soon. So, I wrote that and it was very comforting to have that practice in the afternoons in my living room. I just wrote about my life.

I honor English majors. It's a dumb thing to major in. It leads nowhere. It's good to be dumb, it allows us to love something for no reason. That's the best kind of love.

Use loneliness. Its ache creates urgency to reconnect with the world. Take that aching and use it to propel you deeper into your need for expression - to speak, to say who you are.