I tell beginning readers to read a lot and write a lot. If you want to write a book, find a subject that's really worth the time and effort you'll put in.
I wrote a novel about the combat experiences I didn't have in Vietnam.
The only real nation is humanity
Public education rests precariously on the skill and virtue of the people at the bottom of the institutional pyramid.
When writers stop believing in their own stories, readers tend to sense it.
The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water. Comma.