“I’ll tell you one of the things I used to do in my, uh, English, uh, literature classes when I was teaching for the University of Maryland. I take them out and, um, for 10 minutes, all I just said, all I want you to do when I go outside is look up in the...
“Someone once gave me this advice and they said, if you’re a writer, you write. Now what that means is that you don’t write because you have this ideal that you’re going to write the great American novel. Uh, just go ahead and write because you...
“I really do believe that people should engage in a writing workshop or a class or something like that because I do think having feedback about how people are responding, it doesn’t mean you have to use it or agree with what they say. But it’s very...
“Hardest part about writing is just keeping your butt in the chair. Discipline and persistence. I recommend people do it every day. And you just have to just keep at it. Can’t wait for inspiration to strike. You have to do it long enough until you kind of...
“Discipline and commitment are essential to being a writer. You can’t be a writer unless you’re disciplined and you’re committed to the cause, which is like, write the script, write the book, write the sonnet, write the symphony. If...
