You learn to write by writing.

Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident. . . . Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of the reader's trust. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and in what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold.

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

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

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.

If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do.

The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.