...she (the artist, the writer) doesn't wait for inspiration, she acts in the anticipation of its apparition.

The professional respects his craft. He does not consider himself superior to it. He recognizes the contributions of those who have gone before him. He apprentices himself to them.

There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.

To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls.

What finally convinced me to go ahead was simply that I was so unhappy not going ahead.

When you're a working writer, sooner or later friends and acquaintances will get you alone and confide that they, too, have a book in them.

You have never tasted freedom, friend, or you would know it is purchased not with gold, but steel.