Many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better.... Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself.

Writers can write to affirm and to celebrate, or they can write to debunk and destroy; the choice is ours.

Motivation clears the head faster than a nasal spray.

Eloquence invites us to bring some part of ourselves to the transaction.

Write about small, self-contained incidents that are still vivid in your memory. If you remember them, it's because they contain a larger truth that your readers will recognize in their own lives. Think small and you'll wind up finding the big themes in your family saga.

Writing and learning and thinking are the same process.

The best way to learn to write is to study the work of the men and women who are doing the kind of writing you want to do.