Rewrite formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%.

I’m so afraid that all I can reach will lead me to all I dare not see.

I think we fought Vietnam for the benefits of civilization, and certainly we fought it to oppose authority. To show our authority, to show we weren't weak. Isn't that what Nixon kept saying? "We have to show the world that we're not weak." So of course what we ended up showing the world was that we were, yep, weak. 'Cause we couldn't beat these kids in black pajamas.

The worst advice? 'Don't listen to the critics.' I think that you really ought to listen to the critics, because sometimes they're telling you something is broken that you can fix.

Story is honorable and trustworthy; plot is shifty, and best kept under house arrest.

Do you need someone to make you a paper badge with the word WRITER on it before you can believe you are one? God I hope not.

Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.