There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough.

Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.

When you're ready to stop, stop. If you have presented all the facts and made the point you want to make, look for the nearest exit.

If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart.

My four articles of faith: clarity, simplicity, brevity and humanity.

People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.

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.