You don't know what you're doing. You're just hoping that people won't make fun of you. I had no idea how it would turn out.

Learning to write is not a linear process. There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer. One neat truth about writing cannot answer it all. There are many truths. To do writing practice means to deal ultimately with your whole life.

Use original detail in your writing. Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else.

Poetry has never been a favorite American pastime.

While I had cancer, I wrote these twenty-two personal essays about how I lived my life backed by Zen and writing.

One poem or story doesn't matter one way or the other. It's the process of writing and life that matters.

You don't know what you're doing. You're just hoping that people won't make fun of you. I had no idea how it would turn out.