Every successful piece of nonfiction should leave the reader with one provocative thought that he or she didn't have before. Not two thoughts, or five - just one. So decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.

There's no sentence that's too short in the eyes of God.

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.

Nobody ever stopped reading E. B. White or V. S. Pritchett because the writing was too good.

Writing is a craft not an art.

As a writer I try to operate within a framework of Christian principles, and the words that are important to me are religious words: witness, pilgrimage, intention.

Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it.