There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you.

Every time you look at a blank piece of paper, you're doing something new. You have to step onto that blank territory and remind yourself the sky didn't fall in the last time you wrote. Writing is a question of overcoming your fears-and everybody has them.

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.

Tips can make someone a better writer but not necessarily a good writer. That's a larger package - a matter of character. Golfing is more than keeping the left arm straight. Every good golfer is a complex engine that runs on ability, ego, determination, discipline, patience, confidence, and other qualities that are self-taught. So it is with writers and all creative artists. If their values are solid their work is likely to be solid.

The writer who cares about usage must always know the quick from the dead.

If you lose the dullards back in the dust, that's where they belong. You don't want them anyway.

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