Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.

Every time you look at a blank piece of paper, you're doing something new. You have to step onto that blank territory and remind yourself the sky didn't fall in the last time you wrote. Writing is a question of overcoming your fears-and everybody has them.

Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.

But nothing has replaced the writer. He or she is still stuck with the same old job of saying something that other people will want to read.

You'll never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. The English language is rich in strong and supple words. Take the time to root around and find the ones you want

Be grateful for every word you can cut.

Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can't exist without the other.