keep your hand moving

Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.

The deepest secret in our heart of hearts is that we are writing because we love the world.

Let's say I've directed that [writing] energy into writing my latest book but suddenly, I really want to write about an onion. I don't say to myself, "No, you have stay on the subject," because I know that the longer I stay on the subject the more boring I get. So, if my mind wants to write about an onion, it might be a deeper way to go into what I'm working on, even though it might seem irrelevant. This is how I've learned to follow my mind.

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

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

When you are not writing, you are a writer too. It doesn't leave you.