Good writers are visible just behind their words.

One of the saddest sentences I know is "I wish I had asked my mother about that." Or my father. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. As every parent knows, our children are not as fascinated by our fascinating lives as we are.

The game is won or lost on hundreds of small details.

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.

Editors are licensed to be curious.

Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.

Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away.