The trick is to realize that one is not important, except insofar as one’s example can serve to elucidate a more widespread human trait and make readers feel a little less lonely and freakish.

Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator.

Until people see poetry as springing from all of life, they will isolate it in a creativity corner and treat it like a mascot.

I like the freedom that comes with lowered expectations.

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me.

You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel.

Doubt is my boon companion, the faithful St. Bernard ever at my side. Whether writing essays or just going about daily life, I am constantly second-guessing myself. My mind is filled with 'yes, buts,' 'so whats?' and other skeptical rejoinders. I am forever monitoring myself for traces of folly, insensitivity, arrogance, false humility, cruelty, stupidity, immaturity and, guess what, I keep finding examples. Age has not made me wiser, except maybe in retrospect.