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

My commodity as a writer, whatever I'm writing about, is me. And your commodity is you. Don't alter your voice to fit the subject. Develop one voice that readers will recognize when they hear it on the page, a voice that's enjoyable not only in its musical line but in its avoidance of sounds that would cheapen its tone: breeziness and condescension and clichés.

All writers should strive to deliver something fresh-something editors or readers won't know they want until they see it.

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

The game is won or lost on hundreds of small details.

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.

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is.