There are no rules in writing. There are useful principles. Throw them away when they're not useful. But always know what you're throwing away.

It's always good to hear that people you like are happy.

It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.

Unless you're writing for a humorous effect, elves or space aliens and all creatures who aren't human should at least be as strange as, oh, the French.

The great thing about revision is that it's your opportunity to fake being brilliant.

Politics is a dirty business, but if you do not do politics, politics will be done to you.

Moving around is good for creativity: the next line of dialogue that you desperately need may well be waiting in the back of the refrigerator or half a mile along your favorite walk.