I try to make what I have written tighter, stronger and more precise, eliminating every element that's not doing useful work. Then I go over it once more, reading it aloud, and am always amazed at how much clutter can still be cut.

Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose.

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

Writing is hard work.

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

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.

No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief