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The belief that the first draft must be good makes starting on it an intimidating prospect that often leads to paralysis. So let the first draft be junk; it should be purely about getting from start to finish, nothing more. You really write the piece when you rewrite it.

The terrible thing about being a writer is that you don’t decide to become one, you discover that you are one.

What people are ashamed of usually makes a good story.

Rule one of reading other people’s stories is that whenever you say “well that’s not convincing” the author tells you that’s the bit that wasn’t made up.

When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what’s wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly. You can’t write regularly and well. One should accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well.

I feel full of the mystery of life at the moment.
(Odd how things sometimes seem tinkling and empty and then full, full.)
An overwhelming sensation that almost makes me speechless.

As a writer you are free. You are about the freest person that ever was. Your freedom is what you have bought with your solitude, your loneliness.