Good writing happens when human beings follow particular steps to take control of their sentences-to make their words do what they want them to do.

When students write from experience, they can breathe those specifics into their writing- dialect, odd smells, precise names of plants- that can animate even the most tired and tedious text.

G.K. Chesterton once said: If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. I live by this philosophy when I teach writing. It seems to me vastly more important that a student try a new technique in her writing, and use it imperfectly, than never try the technique at all.

Writing becomes beautiful when it becomes specific, concrete.

Use your notebook to breathe in the world around you.

Good writing happens when human beings follow particular steps to take control of their sentences-to make their words do what they want them to do.

Here's the secret of writing: there is no secret.