All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.

Writers who think THEY are being criticized when only that writing is being criticized are beyond a teacher's reach. Writing can only be learned when a writer coldly separates himself from what he has written and looks at it with the objectivity of a plumber examining a newly piped bathroom to see if he got all the joints tight.

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

Writing is hard work.

All writing is ultimately a question of solving a problem.

Telling a writer to relax is like telling a man to relax while being prodded for a possible hernia.

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