If writing seems hard, it's because it is hard. It's one of the hardest things people do..

Writing is linear and sequential; Sentence B must follow Sentence A, and Sentence C must follow Sentence B, and eventually you get to Sentence Z. The….

Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We all have emotional equity in our first d….

One of underestimated tasks in nonfiction writing is to impose narrative shape on an unwieldy mass of material..

The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components..

Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading..

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless….

Dare to tell the smallest of stories if you want to generate large emotions..

Writing is thinking on paper..

Writing organizes and clarifies our thoughts. Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own. Writing enables us to find out what….

Four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity..

If you write for yourself, you'll reach all the people you want to write for..

If the nails are weak, your house will collapse. If your verbs are weak and your syntax is rickety, your sentences will fall apart..

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

Writing is such lonely work that I try to keep myself cheered up. If something strikes me as funny in the act of writing, I throw it in just to amuse….

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

Don’t say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be tired. Be confused. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don….

There's not much to be said about the period except that most writers don't reach it soon enough..

To defend what you've written is a sign that you are alive..

Decide what you want to do. Then decide to do it. Then do it..

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in mom….