Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous."

A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.

I almost always urge people to write in the first person. ... Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.

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

Avoid the ecstatic adjectives that occupy such disproportionate space in every critic's quiver - words like "enthralling" and "luminous."

Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes.

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.