Think small.... If you can't think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

A good creative-writing teacher can save a good writer a lot of time.

Never want to say anything so strongly that you give up the option of finding something better. If you have to say it, you will.

A creative writing class may be one of the last places you can go where your life still matters.

Don't write love poems when you're in love. Write them when you're not in love.

Assuming you can write clear English sentences, give up all worry about communication. If you want to communicate, use the telephone.

Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work you do on one poem is put in on all poems. The hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work.