-Edit, edit, edit. Then re-edit. Most of the time - just about almost all
the time - good writing is rewriting.
-The secret ingredient of good writing is time, or at least the illusion of
it. The first sign that a piece will come out all right is when the writer
loses all track of time.
-Take a tip from the Shakers: Approach this job as if you had all the time
in the world, and as if the work had to be finished today. A deliberate
urgency is the aim. It's called concentration.
Enough. I used to think I could teach anybody to write before I taught a
course in writing. Never again.
Yes, the techniques can be taught, but the writing can only be evoked.
Nobody can teach another how to write, any more than a coach can teach an
athlete how to excel. The coach may be able to offer some useful tips and
explain the rules, that's all. A writer who can't teach himself by reading
others has deprived himself of the best education.
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All these are such good suggestions that I may consider taking them myself
someday. Giving good advice is easy; following it is the hard part.
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A final plea to prospective writers: If you really hate the actual writing,
if you would much rather be a writer than write, if you can't stand having
to search out just the right word or form or metaphor, if you see no point
in going through a piece and taking out all the commas before re-reading it
and putting them all back in, if you've never been grateful to an editor for
raising a question, if you don't sense any magic or mystery in this writing
business then don't try and try again. Give up. You may not be a writer.
Flannery O'Connor gets the final word - as usual. Once asked if she didn't
think universities were stifling a lot of young writers, she replied: "My
opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them."
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