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Almost every single thing you hope publication will do for you is a fantasy, a hologram--it's the eagle on your credit card that only seems to soar.

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There was going to be a spot for me in this joint, the earth, after all. It was never going to be a great match for someone as bright and strange as m...more

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Rituals are a good signal to your unconscious that it is time to kick in.

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You get your confidence and intuition back by trusting yourself, by being militantly on your own side. You need to trust yourself, especially on a fir...more

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Writing takes a combination of sophistication and innocence; it takes conscience, our belief that something is beautiful because it is right.

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I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is so cold and confusing and hard to see.Your anger and damage and grief are th...more

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A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way. It's a lie if you make something up. But you make it up in the name of th...more

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Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle...more

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E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the wh...more

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All good writers write [terrible first drafts.] This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts. . . I know some very great ...more

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A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way.

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You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wande...more

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But how?" my students ask. "How do you actually do it?" You sit down, I say. You try to sit down at approximately the same time every day. This is how...more

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I like to think that Henry James said his classic line, "A writer is someone on whom nothing is lost," while looking for his glasses, and that they we...more

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For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper un...more