Wait until you are hungry to say something, until there is an aching in you to speak.

Poetry is a dumb Buddha who thinks a donkey is as important as a diamond.

[T]he one thing I want for you is to recognize when you are really singing in writing practice and honor that. Trust that. When you were screaming on the page. Maybe that doesn't make a whole book but that is the true seed.

Know that you will eventually have to leave everything behind; the writing will demand it of you.

Understand that writing is like an athletic activity. To play tennis well, you expect to keep practicing, but for some reason with writing, you think you should come out fresh the first time.

In the end, you have to just sit down, shut up, and write.

To encounter a fine book and have time to read it is a wonderful thing.