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.

Much of my writing has taken the form of a pilgrimage: to sacred places that represent the best of America, to musicians and other artists who represent the best of their art.

All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.

There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.

Today the outlandish becomes routine overnight. The humorist is trying to say that it's still outlandish.

The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead.

Writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.