The writer who cares about usage must always know the quick from the dead.

Many of us were taught that no sentence should begin with "but." If that's what you learned, unlearn it - there's no stronger word at the start. It announces a total contrast with what has gone before, and the reader is thereby primed for the change.

Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill rode to glory on the back of the strong declarative sentence.

Writing is a craft not an art.

To defend what you've written is a sign that you are alive.

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.

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.