Don't try to guess what sort of thing editors want to publish or what you think the country is in a mood to read. Editors and readers don't know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they're always looking for something new.

When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.

To write a good memoir you must become the editor of your own life, imposing on an untidy sprawl of half-remembered events a narrative shape and an organizing idea. Memoir is the art of inventing the truth.

Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly-about any subject at all.

There's no subject you don't have permission to write about. Students often avoid subjects close to their heart ... because they assume that their teachers will regard those topics as 'stupid.' No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.

There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.

Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.